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DOLPH HEYUGER 



By WASHINGTON IRVING- 



Edited by GEORGE ¥L BROWNE 



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Tappan zee and Sleepy Hollow Church. 



DOLPH HEYLIGER 

A STORY FROM 

BRACEBRIDGE HALL 

BY 

WASHINGTON IRVING 



EDITED BY GEORGE H. BROWNE, A.M. 

THE BKOWNE AND NICHOLS SCHOOL, CAMBRIDGE, MASS. 



WITH FORTY-TWO ILLUSTRATIONS AND MA^3 



BOSTON, U.S.A. 

D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS 

1901 



THE LIBRARY OF 

CONGRESS, 
Two Copies Received 

APR. 29 1901 

Copyright entry 

CLASS cXXXc. N«. 

COPY B. 






Copyright, 1901, 
By D. C. Heath & Co. 



Jf limpton i@vfss 

H. M. PLIMPTON i CO., PRINTERS & BINDERS, 
NORWOOD, MASS., U.S.A. 



PREFACE. 

DoLPH Heyliger is one of the stories contained in the volume 
entitled " Bracebridge Hall or The Humorists," a medley by 
Geoffrey Crayon, Gentleman, which Washington Irving published 
in 1822. It consists of a series of brief papers descriptive of 
English country life and character as he himself saw, knew, and 
loved it, intermingled with stories that are supposed to be told by 
the visitors at the Hall, which is a typical old English homestead, 
or by members of the family living there ; the whole volume 
reminding us very much of the Roger de Coverley Papers in the 
" Spectator," which were written one hundred and ten years before. 

Dolph Heyliger is one of the stories which the author describes 
himself as telling to the assembled family and their guests. It 
belongs to the group of legendary tales of the Dutch settlers in 
New York State, with which Irving's name will be forever asso- 
ciated. It contains some of Irving's best writing, and supplies 
admirable models for imitation by students of narrative and 
description. 

Although Washington Irving had a tendency in his youth to a 
fatal disease, he lived beyond the. allotted span of three score 
years and ten, for he was born in 1783 and died in 1859, thus 
illustrating the old saying that " creaking doors last longest on 
their hinges." 

He was never married, but remained faithful to the love of his 
youth, — a beautiful girl, who was taken from him by death. He 
was full of chivalry and dehcacy in his attitude toward the other 
sex, and he often refers to them in his writings in language of 
commiserative tenderness, mingled sometimes with a tendency to 
banter their weaknesses good-humoredly. 



vi Preface. 

He was born and brought up in New York State, and knew the 
River Hudson, its history and legend, better than any one who 
has ever written of it. His ill health interfered with his early 
studies, but travel and residence of many years abroad gave him 
what mere book learning could never have offered. When he was 
twenty-one he travelled in Europe for two years, and returning 
became a lawyer ; but as briefs did not " come trooping gaily," 
he soon after began his Uterary career by publishing the " Salma- 
gundi," in conjunction with his brother William and J. K. Pauld- 
ing. His first real hterary work, however, and the one by which 
he is best known, is a " History of New York by Diedrich Knick- 
erbocker," published in 1809, of which it has been said that 
though but a burlesque, it is as real to every American as "The 
Pilgrim's Progress." Several extracts have been used in the 
appendix as illustrative material and specimens of Irving's humor. 

In the midst of his career, reverses in business compelled him 
to devote his attention seriously to literature as a means of gaining 
his livelihood ; and for many years he supported himself, two of 
his brothers, and five of his nieces by the proceeds of his pen. 

The " Sketch Book " was the next work by Irving which capti- 
vated the public fancy, and it was as enthusiastically received in 
England as in America. A residence in Spain for six years fur- 
nished him with the material for those more serious works, in 
which he first revealed to the English-speaking peoples the rich 
stores of Spanish history and romance. His work in this field not 
unnaturally led him to collect materials for a history of the Con- 
quest of Mexico ; but, on discovering that Prescott had already a 
similar work in hand, Irving generously relinquished his project in 
favor of that other famous historian. 

During his long residences abroad, Washington Irving was 
United States Minister to the courts both of England and of 
Spain. When he finally settled in his native country, he remod- 
elled an old Dutch house in Tarrytown, near the scene of the 
legend of Sleepy Hollow, which was known for long years after as 
Sunnyside. There he died. The house still exists, and is care- 



Preface. vii 

fully preserved as a shrine to which thousands of his countrymen 
annually wend their way. 

The business with which Irving was connected was closely 
associated with England. No writer has done more to promote 
intimate and brotherly relations between the two countries than 
has Washington Irving. He was the first successful American 
author that ever visited its shores, and the appeal to the English 
and American people with which he concludes " Bracebridge 
Hall " may well find a place here. 

" With respect to England," he says, " we have a warm feeling 
of the heart, the glow of consanguinity that still lingers in our 
blood. Interest apart — past differences forgotten — we extend 
the hand of old relationship. We merely ask, do not estrange us 
from you ; do not destroy the ancient tie of blood ; do not let 
scoffers and slanderers drive a kindred nation from your side ; we 
would fain be friends ; do not compel us to be enemies. 

" There needs no better rallying ground for international amity 
than that furnished by an eminent English writer. 'There is,' 
says he, ' a sacred bond between us of blood and of language, 
which no circumstances can break. Our literature must always 
be theirs ; and though their laws are no longer the same as ours, 
we have the same Bible, and we address our common Father in 
the same prayer. Nations are too ready to admit that they have 
natural enemies ; why should they be less willing to believe that 
they have natural friends ? ' " * 

The text of this edition has been taken from the best edition ; 
and some of the notes, by other hands, have been carefully revised 
by the editor, whose aim in the elucidation for young readers has 
been to make Irving his own commentator, 

GEORGE H. BROWNE. 

Cambridge, Mass., 
October, 1900. 

* From an article (said to be by Robert Southey, Esq.) published in the 
Quarterly Review. 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Preface v 

DoLPH Heyliger . . . . , I 

The Storm Ship 56 

Notes 97 



LIST OF MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Tappan Zee and Sleepy Hollow Church Frontispiece 

PAGE 

Map of Greater New York . x 

Early Dutch Costumes .......... i 

Garden-street, New York ......... 3 

Dame Heyliger's Window 4 

The Little Lutheran Church ......... 5 

A " Bowerie " ........... 15 

Spectre of the Brocken .......... 19 

Jacob Leister's House .......... 22 

An Old Harpsichord .......... 24 

The Old P'ireplace ........... 25 

Little Thick Dutch Bible . . .32 

The Sloop ............ 36 

" Ploughing her way past Yonkers "....... 37 

The Sloop was soon on the Journey up the Hudson .... 38 

St. Antony's Nose ........... 40 

"The thunder crashed upon Dunderberg" .41 

viii 



Maps and Illustrations. ix 



PAGE 



A Rock overhanging a Small Dell . . - . . . . . '47 

Map of the Hudson River ......... 49 

Portrait of Henry Hudson 55 

Wouter van Twiller .......... 56 

" Many were the groups collected about the Battery " . . . . 58 

The Storm Ship ........... 59 

The House in the Wood .61 

The Palisades ........... 63 

Haverstraw Bay ........... 64 

Table Mountain ........... 65 

The Half-Moon at the Highlands 66 

" It was seen about Weehawk "........ 67 

Pollopol's Island ........... 68 

"The Highlands, vast and cragged" ....... 73 

Vander Heyden Mansion in Albany ....... 76 

Vander Heyden and Dolph arrive ........ 78 

Peter Stuyvesant ........... 83 

The Kaatskills 87 

Dutch Pleasure Wagon .......... 96 

Lord Cornliury .......... -97 

Wampum Belt ........... 106 

Map of Hudson's Voyages . . . . . . . . .107 

A Scene at The Hague .......... 108 

San Nic'l'as ............ 109 



The publishers' acknowledgments are due to Messrs. Putnams 
for their permission to reprint this work. 



DOLPH HEYLIGER. 

" I take the town of Concord, where I dwell, 
All Kilborn be my witness, if I were not 
Begot in bashfulness, brought up in shamefacedness : 
Let 'un bring a dog but to my vace that can 
Zay I have beat 'un, and without a vault; 
Or but a cat will swear upon a book, 
I have as much as zet a vire her tail. 
And I'll give him or her a crown for 'mends." — Tale of a Tub. 




Eakly Dutch Costumes. 



In the early time of the province of New York, while it 
groaned under the tyranny of the EngUsh governor, Lord 
Cornbury, who carried his cruelties towards the Dutch 
inhabitants so far as to allow no Dominie, or schoolmaster, 



New York : Note i . 



Loi'd Cornbury : Note 2. 



2 Dolph Heyliger. 

to officiate in their language, without his special license ; 
about this time, there lived in the jolly little old city of the 
Manhattoes, a kind motherly dame, known by the name 
of Dame Heyliger. She was the widow of a Dutch sea- 
captain, who died suddenly of a fever, in consequence of 
working too hard, and eating too heartily, at the time 
when all the inhabitants turned out in a panic, to fortify 
the place against the invasion of a small French privateer.* 
He left her with very little money, and one infant son, 
the only survivor of several children. The good woman 
had need of much management, to make both ends meet, 
and keep up a decent appearance. However, as her hus- 
band had fallen a victim to his zeal for the public safety, 
it was universally agreed that " something ought to be 
done for the widow " ; and on the hopes of this " some- 
thing" she lived tolerably for some years; in the mean- 
time, everybody pitied and spoke well of her ; and that 
helped along. 

She lived in a small house, in a small street, called 
Garden-street, very probably from a garden which may 
have flourished there some time or other. As her neces- 
sities every year grew greater, and the talk of the public 
about doing " something for her " grew less, she had to 
cast about for some mode of doing something for herself, 
by way of helping out her slender means, and maintaining 
her independence, of which she was somewhat tenacious. 

Living in a mercantile town, she had caught something 
of the spirit, and determined to venture a little in the great 
lottery of commerce. On a sudden, therefore, to the great 
surprise of the street, there appeared at her window a 

Old city : Note 3. ]\Ianhaitocs : a tribe of Indians which gave the name 
to Manhattan Island, 

* 1705- 



Dolph Heyliger. 3 

grand array of gingerbread kings and queens, with their 
arms stuck a-kimbo, after the invariable royal manner. 
There were also several broken tumblers, some filled with 
sugar-plums, some with marbles ; there were, moreover, 
cakes of various kinds, and barley sugar, and Holland 
dolls, and wooden horses, with here and there gilt-covered 




Garden-street, New York. 
y 

picture-books, and now and then a skein of thread, or a 
dangling pound of candles. At the door of the house sat 
the good old dame's cat, a decent demure-looking person- 
age, who seemed to scan everybody that passed, to criticise 
their dress, and now and then to stretch her neck, and look 
out with sudden curiosity, to see what was going on at the 
other end of the street ; but if by chance any idle vaga- 
bond dog came by, and offered to be uncivil — hoity-toity ! 



A-kimbo : hands on hips and elbows stuck out. 



4 Dolph Heyliger. 

— how she would bristle up, and growl, and spit, and 
strike out her paws ! she was as indignant as ever was an 
ancient and ugly spinster, on the approach of some grace- 
less profligate. 

But though the good woman had to come down to those 
humble means of subsistence, yet she still kept up a feeling 
of family pride, being descended from the Vanderspiegels. 




Dame Heyliger's Window. 



of Amsterdam ; and she had the family arms painted and 
framed, and hung over her mantel-piece. She was, in 
tiuth, much respected by all the poorer people of the 
place ; her house was quite a resort of the old wives of 
the neighborhood ; they would drop in there of a winter's 
afternoon, as she sat knitting on one side of her fireplace, 
her cat purring on the other, and the tea-kettle singing 
before it; and they would gossip with her until late in 



Dolph Heyllger. 5 

the evening. There was always an arm-chair for Peter de 
Groodt, sometimes called Long Peter, and sometimes Peter 
Longlegs, the clerk and sexton of the little Lutheran 
church, who was her great crony, and indeed the oracle of 
her fireside. Nay, the Dominie himself did not disdain, 
now and then, to step in, converse about the state of her 
mind, and take a glass of her special good cherry-brandy. 




:^^^^^^^B 




The Little Lutheran Church. 



Indeed, he never failed to call on new-year's day, and wish 
her a happy new year ; and the good dame, who was a 
little vain on some points, always piqued herself on giving 
him as large a cake as any one in town. 

I have said that she had one son. He was the child of 
her old age; but could hardly be called the comfort — for, 
of all unlucky urchins, Dolph Heyliger was the most mis- 

Peter de Groodt : (Dutch) Peter the Great. Note 4. 



6 Dolph Heyliger. 

chievous. Not that the whipster was really vicious ; he 
was only full of fun and frolic, and had that daring, game- 
some spirit, which is extolled in a rich man's child, but 
execrated in a poor man's. He was continually getting 
into scrapes : his mother was incessantly harassed with 
complaints of some waggish pranks which he had played 
off ; bills were sent in for windows that he had broken ; 
in a word, he had not reached his fourteenth year before 
he was pronounced, by all the neighborhood, to be a 
" wicked dog, the wickedest dog in the street ! " Nay, 
one old gentleman, in a claret-colored coat, with a thin 
red face, and ferret eyes, went so far as to assure Dame 
Heyliger that her son would, one day or another, come to 
the gallows! 

Yet, notwithstanding all this, the poor old soul loved 
her boy. It seemed as though she loved him the better, 
the worse he behaved ; and that he grew more in her 
favor, the more he grew out of favor with the world. 
Indeed, this poor woman's child was all that was left to 
love her in this world ; so we must not think it hard 
that she turned a deaf ear to her good friends, who sought 
to prove to her that Dolph would come to a halter. 

To do the varlet justice, too, he was strongly attached 
to his parent. He would not willingly have given her 
pain on any account ; and when he had been doing wrong, 
it was but for him to catch his poor mother's eye fixed 
wistfully and sorrowfully upon him, to fill his heart with 
bitterness and contrition. But he was a heedless young- 
ster, and could not, for the life of him, resist any new 
temptation to fun and mischief. Though quick at his 
learning, whenever he could be brought to apply himself 

Whipster : nimble little top-whipper or spinner, lad, urchin. 
Varlet : Note 5. 



Dolph Heyliger. 7 

he was always prone to be led away by idle company, 
and would play truant to hunt after birds' nests, to rob 
orchards, or to swim in the Hudson. 

In this way he grew up, a tall, lubberly boy ; and his 
mother began to be greatly perplexed what to do with 
him, or how to put him in a way to do for himself ; for 
he had acquired such an unlucky reputation, that no one 
seemed willing to employ him. 

Many were the consultations that she held with Peter de 
Groodt, the clerk and sexton, who was her prime council- 
lor. Peter was as much perplexed as herself, for he had 
no great opinion of the boy, and thought he would never 
come to good. He at one time advised her to send him to 
sea ; a piece of advice only given in the most desperate 
cases ; but Dame Heyliger would not listen to such an 
idea ; she could not think of letting Dolph go out of her 
sight. She was sitting one day knitting by her fireside, in 
great perplexity, when the sexton entered with an air of 
unusual vivacity and briskness. He had just come from a 
funeral. It had been that of a boy of Dolph's years, who 
had been apprentice to a famous German doctor, and had 
died of consumption. It is true, that there had been a 
whisper that the deceased had been brought to his end by 
being made the subject of the doctor's experiments, on 
which he was apt to try the effects of a new compound, or 
a quieting draught. This, however, it is likely, was a mere 
scandal ; at any rate, Peter de Groodt did not think it 
worth mentioning. . . . 

Peter de Groodt, as I said before, entered the house of 
Dame Heyliger with unusual alacrity. A bright idea had 
popped into his head at the funeral, over which he had 
chuckled as he shovelled the earth into the grave of the 
doctor's disciple. It had occurred to him, that, as the 



8 Dolph Heyliger. 

situation of the deceased was vacant at the doctor's, it 
would be the very place for Dolph. The boy had parts, 
and could pound a pestle and run an errand with any boy 
in the town, and what more was wanted in a student ? 

The suggestion of the sage Peter was a vision of glory 
to the mother. She already saw Dolph, in her mind's eye, 
with a cane at his nose, a knocker at his door, and an M.D. 
at the end of his name — one of the established dignitaries 
of the town. 

The matter, once undertaken, was soon effected : the 
sexton had some influence with the doctor, they having 
had much dealing together in the way of their separate 
professions ; and the very next morning he called and con- 
ducted the urchin, clad in his Sunday clothes, to undergo 
the inspection of Doctor Karl Lodovick Knipperhausen. 

They found the doctor seated in an elbow-chair, in one 
corner of his study, or laboratory, with a large volume, in 
German print, before him. He was a short, fat man, with 
a dark, square face, rendered more dark by a black velvet 
cap. He had a little, knobbed nose, not unlike the ace of 
spades, with a pair of spectacles gleaming on each side of 
his dusky countenance, like a couple of bow-windows. 

Dolph felt struck with awe, on entering into the pres- 
ence of this learned man, and gazed about him with boy- 
ish wonder at the furniture of this chamber of knowledge, 
which appeared to him almost as the den of a magician. 
In the centre stood a claw-footed table, with pestle and 
mortar, phials and gallipots, and a pair of small, burnished 
scales. At one end was a heavy clothes-press, turned into 
a receptacle for drugs and compounds ; against which hung 
the doctor's hat and cloak and gold-headed cane, and on 
the top grinned a human skull. Along the mantel-piece 

Knipperhausen : Note 6. 



Dolph Heyliger. 9 

were glass vessels, in which were snakes and lizards. A 
closet, the doors of which were taken off, contained three 
whole shelves of books, and some, too, of mighty folio 
dimensions — a collection, the like of which Dolph had 
never before beheld. As, however, the library did not 
take up the whole of the closet, the doctor's thrifty house- 
keeper had occupied the rest with pots of pickles and pre- 
serves ; and hung about the room, among awful implements 
of the healing art, strings of red pepper and corpulent 
cucumbers, carefully preserved for seed. 

Peter de Groodt and his protege were received with 
great gravity and stateliness by the doctor, who was a 
very wise, dignified little man, and never smiled. He sur- 
veyed Dolph from head to foot, above, and under, and 
through his spectacles ; and the poor lad's heart quailed 
as these great glasses glared on him like two full moons. 
The doctor heard all that Peter de Groodt had to say in 
favor of the youthful candidate ; and then, wetting his 
thumb with the end of his tongue, he began deliberately 
to turn over page after page of the great black volume 
before him. At length, after many hums and haws, and 
strokings of the chin, and that hesitation and deliberation 
with which a wise man proceeds to do what he intended 
to do from the very first, the doctor agreed to take the lad 
as a disciple ; to give him bed, board, and clothing, and to 
instruct him in the healing art ; in return for which, he 
was to have his services vmtil his twenty-first year. 

Behold, then, our hero, all at once transformed from an 
unlucky urchin, running wild about the streets, to a stu- 
dent of medicine, diligently pounding a pestle, under the 
auspices of the learned Doctor Karl Lodovick Knipper- 

Folio : Note 7. 

Protege : (French) one who is under the protection of another. 



lo Dolph Heyliger. 

hausen. It was a happy transition for his fond old mother. 
She was dehghted with the idea of her boy's being brought 
up worthy of his ancestors ; and anticipated the day when 
he would be able to hold up his head with the lawyer, that 
lived in the large house opposite ; or, peradventure, with 
the Dominie himself. 

Doctor Knipperhausen was a native of the Palatinate 
of Germany ; whence, in company with many of his coun- 
trymen, he had taken refuge in England, on account of 
religious persecution. He was one of nearly three thou- 
sand Palatines, who came over from England in 1710, 
under the protection of Governor Hunter. Where the 
doctor had studied, how he had acquired his medical 
knowledge, and where he had received his diploma, it is 
hard at present to say, for nobody knew at the time ; yet 
it is certain that his profound skill and abstruse knowledge 
were the talk and wonder of the common people, far and 
near. 

His practice was totally different from that of any other 
physician ; consisting in mysterious compounds, known 
only to himself, in the preparing and administering of 
which, it was said, he always consulted the stars. So high 
an opinion was entertained of his skill, particularly by the 
German and Dutch inhabitants, that they always resorted 
to him in desperate cases. He was one of those infallible 
doctors, that are always effecting sudden and surprising 
cures, when the patient has been given up by all the regu- 
lar physicians ; unless, as is shrewdly observed, the case 
has been left too long before it was put into their hands. 
The doctor's library was the talk and marvel of the neigh- 

Palatiuate : States in the old German Empire, separate but under one 
ruler, so called because governed by an officer of the Royal Palace. 
Consulted the stars : Note 8. 



Dolph Heyliger. il 

borhood, I might almost say of the entire burgh. The 
good people looked with reverence at a man who had read 
three whole shelves full of books, and some of them, too, 
as large as a family Bible. There were many disputes 
among the members of the little Lutheran church, as to 
which was the wiser man, the doctor or the Dominie. 
Some of his admirers even went so far as to say that he 
knew more than the governor himself — in a word, it was 
thought that there was no end to his knowledge ! 

No sooner was Dolph received into the doctor's family, 
than he was put in possession of the lodging of his prede- 
cessor. It was a garret-room of a steep-roofed Dutch 
house, where the rain pattered on the shingles, and the 
Hghtning gleamed, and the wind piped through the cran- 
nies in stormy weather ; and where whole troops of hungry 
rats, like Don Cossacks, galloped about in defiance of traps 
and ratsbane. 

He was soon up to his ears in medical studies, being em- 
ployed, morning, noon, and night, in rolling pills, filtering 
tinctures, or pounding the pestle and mortar, in one corner 
of the laboratory ; while the doctor would take his seat in 
another corner, when he had nothing else to do, or expected 
visitors, and, arrayed in his morning-gown and velvet cap, 
would pore over the contents of some folio volume. It is 
true, that the regular thumping of Dolph's pestle, or, per- 
haps, the drowsy buzzing of the summer flies, would now 
and then lull the little man into a slumber ; but then his 
spectacles were always wide awake, and studiously regard- 
ing the book. 

There was another personage in the house, however, to 

Burgh : a town or village, with separate independent rights of self- 
government. 

Do7i Cossacks : robber horsemen of Russia, who lived on the River Don. 



12 Dolph Heyliger. 

whom Dolph was obliged to pay allegiance. Though a 
bachelor, and a man of such great dignity and importance, 
the doctor was, like many other wise men, subject to petticoat 
government. He was completely under the sway of his 
housekeeper : a spare, busy, fretting housewife, in a little, 
round, quilted German cap, with a huge bunch of keys 
jingling at the girdle of an exceedingly long waist. Frau 
Use (or Frow Ilsy, as it was pronounced) had accompanied 
him in his various migrations from Germany to England, 
and from England to the province; managing his estab- 
lishment and himself too : ruling him, it is true, with a 
gentle hand, but carrying a high hand with all the world 
beside. . . . 

Indeed, Frau Ilsy's power was not confined to the doc- 
tor's household. She was one of those prying gossips who 
know every one's business better than they do themselves; 
and whose all-seeing eyes, and all-telling tongues, are ter- 
rors throughout a neighborhood. 

Nothing of any moment transpired in the world of scan- 
dal of this little burgh, but it was known to Frau Ilsy. She 
had her crew of cronies, that were perpetually hurrying to 
her little parlor, with some precious bit of news ; nay, she 
would sometimes discuss a whole volume of secret history, 
as she held the street-door ajar, and gossiped with one of 
these garrulous cronies in the very teeth of a December 
blast. 

Between the doctor and the housekeeper, it may easily 
be supposed that Dolph had a busy life of it. As Frau 
Ilsy kept the keys, and literally ruled the roast, it was star- 
vation to offend her, though he found the study of her tem- 
per more perplexing even than that of medicine. When 
not busy in the laboratory, she kept him running hither 
and thither on her errands ; and on Sundays he was obliged 



Dolph Heyliger. 13 

to accompany her to and from church, and carry her Bible. 
Many a time has the poor varlet stood shivering and 
blowing his fingers, or holding his frost-bitten nose, in the 
church-yard, while Ilsy and her cronies were huddled to- 
gether, wagging their heads, and tearing some unlucky 
character to pieces. 

With all. his advantages, however, Dolph made very slow 
progress in his art. This was no fault of the doctor's, cer- 
tainly, for he took unwearied pains with the lad, keeping 
him close to the pestle and mortar, or on the trot about 
town with phials and jjill-boxes ; and if he ever flagged in 
his industry, which he was rather apt to do, the doctor would 
fly into a passion, and ask him if he ever expected to learn 
his profession, unless he applied himself closer to the study. 
The fact is, he still retained the fondness for sport and mis- 
chief that had marked his childhood; the habit, indeed, had 
strengthened with his years, and gained force from being 
thwarted and constrained. He daily grew more and more 
untractable, and lost favor in the eyes both of the doctor 
and the housekeeper. 

In the meantime the doctor went on, waxing wealthy and 
renowned. He was famous for his skill in managing cases 
not laid down in the books. He had cured several old 
women and young girls of witchcraft : a terrible complaint, 
nearly as prevalent in the province in those days as hydro- 
phobia is at present. He had even restored one strapping 
country girl to perfect health, who had gone so far as to 
vomit crooked pins and needles; which is considered a des- 
perate stage of the malady. It was whispered, also, that 
he was possessed of the art of preparing love-powders ; and 
many appHcations had he in consequence from love-sick 
patients of both sexes. But all these cases formed the 
mysterious part of his practice, in which, according to the 



14 Dolph Heyliger. 

cant phrase, "secrecy and honor might be depended on." 
Dolph, therefore, was obhged to turn out of the study 
whenever such consultations occurred, though it is said he 
learnt more of the secrets of the art at the key-hole than 
by all the rest of his studies put together. 

As the doctor increased in wealth, he began to extend 
his possessions, and to look forward, like other great men, 
to the time when he should retire to the repose of a coun- 
try-seat. For this purpose he had purchased a farm, or, as 
the Dutch settlers called it, a bozvcrie, a few miles from 
town. It had been the residence of a wealthy family, that 
had returned some time since to Holland. A large man- 
sion-house stood in the centre of it, very much out of re- 
pair, and which, in consequence of certain reports, had 
received the appellation of the Haunted House. Either 
from these reports, or from its actual dreariness, the doc- 
tor found it impossible to get a tenant ; and, that the place 
might not fall to ruin before he could reside in it himself, 
he placed a country boor, with his family, in one wing, with 
the privilege of cultivating the farm on shares. 

The doctor now felt all the dignity of a landholder rising 
within him. He had a little of the German pride of terri- 
tory in his composition, and almost looked upon himself 
as owner of a principality. He began to complain of the 
fatigue of business ; and was fond of riding out " to look 
at his estate." His Httle expeditions to his lands were 
attended with a bustle and parade that created a sensation 
throughout the neighborhood. His wall-eyed horse stood, 
stamping and whisking off the flies, for a full hour before 
the house. Then the doctor's saddle-bags would be brought 

Cant phrase : " as the saying went." Boor : Note 9. 

Wall-eyed: having eyes with conspicuous white or light gray iris, white- 
eyed. 



Dolph Heyliger. 



15 



out and adjusted ; then, after a little while, his cloak would 
be rolled up and strapped to the saddle ; then his umbrella 
would be buckled to the cloak ; while, in the meantime, a 
group of ragged boys, that observant class of beings, would 
gather before the door. At length, the doctor would issue 
forth, in a pair of jack-boots that reached above his knees, 
and a cocked hat flapped down in front. As he was a 
short, fat man, he took some time to mount into the saddle ; 



m-^ 




"A BOWERIE." 



and when there, he took some time to have the saddle and 
stirrups properly adjusted, enjoying the wonder and admi- 
ration of the urchin crowd. Even after he had set off, he 
would pause in the middle of the street, or trot back two 
or three times to give some parting orders ; which were 
answered by the housekeeper from the door, or Dolph 
from the study, or the black cook from the cellar, or the 
chambermaid from the garret-window ; and there were 

Umbrella : Note 10. 
Jack-boots : so called because they were worn by sailors or jack tars. 



1 6 Dolph Heyliger. 

generally some last words bawled after him, just as he 
was turning the corner. 

The whole neighborhood would be aroused by this pomp 
and circumstance. The cobbler would leave his last; the 
barber would thrust out his frizzed head, with a comb 
sticking in it ; a knot would collect at the grocer's door, 
and the word would be buzzed from one end of the street 
to the other, " The doctor's riding out to his country-seat ! " 

These were golden moments for Dolph. No sooner was 
the doctor out of sight, than pestle and mortar were aban- 
doned ; the laboratory was left to take care of itself, and 
the student was off on some madcap frolic. 

Indeed, it must be confessed, the youngster, as he grew 
up, seemed in a fair way to fulfil the prediction of the old 
claret-colored gentleman. He was the ringleader of all 
holiday sports and midnight gambols ; ready for all kinds 
of mischievous pranks and hare-brained adventures. 

There is nothing so troublesome as a hero on a small 
scale, or, rather, a hero in a small town. Dolph soon 
became the abhorrence of all drowsy, housekeeping old 
citizens, who hated noise, and had no relish for waggery. 
The good dames, too, considered him as little better than 
a reprobate, gathered their daughters under their wings 
whenever he approached, and pointed him out as a warn- 
ing to their sons. No one seemed to hold him in much 
regard, excepting the wild striplings of the place, who were 
captivated by his open-hearted, daring manners, and the 
negroes, who always look upon every idle, do-nothing 
youngster as a kind of gentleman. Even the good Peter 
de Groodt, who had considered himself a kind of patron 
of the lad, began to despair of him ; and would shake his 

Hare-brained : wild, foolish. Compare the saying, "As mad as a March 
hare." Watery : practical jokes, fooling. 



Dolph Heyliger. 17 

head dubiously, as he Hstened to a long complaint from 
the housekeeper, and sipped a glass of her raspberry- 
brandy. 

Still his mother was not to be wearied out of her affec- 
tion by all the waywardness of her boy ; nor disheartened 
by the stories of his misdeeds, with which her good friends 
were continually regahng her. She had, it is true, very 
little of the pleasure which rich people enjoy, in always 
hearing their children praised ; but she considered all this 
ill-will as a kind of persecution which he suffered, and she 
liked him the better on that account. She saw him grow- 
ing up, a fine, tall, good-looking youngster, and she looked 
at hini with the secret pride of a mother's heart. It was 
her great desire that Dolph should appear like a gentle- 
man, and all the money she could save went toward help- 
ing out his pocket and his wardrobe. She would look out of 
the window after him, as he sallied forth in his best array, 
and her heart would yearn with delight ; and once, when 
Peter de Groodt, struck with the youngster's gallant 
appearance on a bright Sunday morning, observed, " Well, 
after all, Dolph does grow a comely fellow ! " the tear 
of pride started into the mother's eye : " Ah, neighbor, 
neighbor!" exclaimed she, "they may say what they 
please ; poor Dolph will yet hold up his head with the 
best of them ! " 

Dolph Heyliger had now nearly attained his one-and- 
twentieth year, and the term of his medical studies was 
just expiring; yet it must be confessed that he knew little 
more of the profession than when he first entered the 
doctor's doors. This, however, could not be from any 
want of quickness of parts, for he showed amazing apt- 
ness in mastering other branches of knowledge, which 
he could only have studied at intervals. He was, for 



1 8 Dolph Heyliger. 

instance, a sure marksman, and won all the geese and 
turkeys at Christmas holidays. He was a bold rider ; he 
was famous for leaping and wrestling; he played toler- 
ably on the fiddle ; could swim like a fish ; and was the 
best hand in the whole place at fives or nine-pins. 

All these accomplishments, however, procured him no 
favor in the eyes of the doctor, who grew more and more 
crabbed and intolerant, the nearer the term of apprentice- 
ship approached. Frau Ilsy, too, was forever finding some 
occasion to raise a windy tempest about his ears ; and sel- 
dom encountered him about the house, without a clatter 
of the tongue ; so that at length the jingling of her keys, 
as she approached, was to Dolph like the ringing of the 
prompter's bell, that gives notice of a theatrical thunder- 
storm. Nothing but the infinite good-humor of the heed- 
less youngster enabled him to bear all this domestic 
tyranny without open rebellion. It was evident that the 
doctor and his housekeeper were preparing to beat the 
poor youth out of the nest, the moment his term should 
have expired ; a shorthand mode which the doctor had of 
providing for useless disciples. 

Indeed, the little man had been rendered more than 
usually irritable lately, in consequence of various cares 
and vexations which his country estate had brought upon 
him. The doctor had been repeatedly annoyed by the 
rumors and tales which prevailed concerning the old 
mansion ; and found it difficult to prevail even upon the 
countryman and his family to remain there rent-free. 
Every time he rode out to the farm, he was teased by 
some fresh complaint of strange noises and fearful sights, 
with which the tenants were disturbed at night ; and the 

Fives : a game something like tennis, three fives counted game. 
Prevailed: were commonly told; prevail upon : persuade. 




Spectre of the Brocken in the Hartz Mountains. 

See note 12. 



20 Dolph Heyliger. 

doctor would come home fretting and fuming, and vent 
his spleen upon the whole household. It was indeed a 
sore grievance, that affected him both in pride and purse. 
He was threatened with an absolute loss of the profits 
of his property ; and then, what a blow to his territorial 
consequence, to be the landlord of a haunted house ! 

It was observed, however, that with all his vexation, the 
doctor never proposed to sleep in the house himself ; nay, 
he could never be prevailed upon to remain on the prem- 
ises after dark, but made the best of his way for town, as 
soon as the bats began to flit about in the twilight. The 
fact was, the doctor had a secret belief in ghosts, having 
passed the early part of his life in a country where they 
particularly abound ; and indeed the story went, that, when 
a boy, he had once seen the devil upon the Hartz moun- 
tains in Germany. 

At length, the doctor's vexations on this head were 
brought to a crisis. One morning, as he sat dozing over 
a volume in his study, he was suddenly startled from his 
slumbers by the bustling in of the housekeeper. 

"Here's a fine to do!" cried she, as she entered the 
room. " Here's Claus Hopper come in, bag and baggage, 
from the farm, and swears he'll have nothing more to do 
with it. The whole family have been frightened out of 
their wits ; for there's such racketing and rummaging 
about the old house, that they can't sleep quiet in their 
beds ! " 

" Donner und blitzen ! " cried the doctor, impatiently; 
" will they never have done chattering about that house ? 

spleen: ill-humor or bad temper. Note ii. 

Hartz i7iountains : Note 12. 

A fine to do : surprising situation, pretty state of things. 

Donner und blitzen : (German) " thunder and lightning." 



Dolph Heyliger. 21 

What a pack of fools, to let a few rats and mice frighten 
them out of good quarters ! " 

" Nay, nay," said the housekeeper, wagging her head 
knowingly, and piqued at having a good ghost story 
doubted, " there's more in it than rats and mice. All the 
neighborhood talks about the house ; and then such sights 
have been seen in it ! Peter de Groodt tells me, that the 
family that sold you the house, and went to Holland, 
dropped several strange hints about it, and said, 'they 
wished you joy of your bargain ; ' and you know yourself 
there's no getting any family to live in it." 

"Peter de Groodt's a ninny — an old woman," said the 
doctor, peevishly ; " I'll warrant he's been filling these 
people's heads full of stories. It's just like his nonsense 
about the ghost that haunted the church belfry, as an 
excuse for not ringing the bell that cold night when 
Harmanus Brinkerhoff's house was on fire. Send Glaus 
to me." 

Glaus Hopper now made his appearance : a simple 
country lout, full of awe at finding himself in the very 
study of Dr. Knipperhausen, and too much embarrassed 
to enter in much detail of the matters that had caused his 
alarm. He stood twirling his hat in one hand, resting 
sometimes on one leg, sometimes on the other, looking 
occasionally at the doctor, and now and then steahng a 
fearful glance at the death's head that seemed ogling him 
from the top of the clothes-press. 

The doctor tried every means to persuade him to return 
to the farm, but all in vain ; he maintained a dogged 
determination on the subject ; and at the close of every 
argument or solicitation, would make the same brief, in- 
flexible reply, " Ich kan nicht, mynheer." The doctor was 

Ich . . . mynheer: (Dutch) "I cannot, sir." 



22 



Dolph Heyliger. 



a "little pot, and soon hot"; his patience was exhausted 
by these continual vexations about his estate. The stub- 
born refusal of Claus Hopper seemed to him like flat 
rebellion ; his temper suddenly boiled over, and Claus was 
glad to make a rapid retreat to escape scalding. 

When the bumpkin got to the housekeeper's room, he 
found Peter de Groodt, and several other true believers, 
ready to receive him. Here he indemnified himself for the 
restraint he had suffered in the study, and opened a budget 
of stories about the haunted house that astonished all his 
hearers. The housekeeper believed them all, if it was only 
to spite the doctor for having received her intelligence 

so uncourteously. Peter 
de Groodt matched them 
with many a wonderful 
legend of the times of 
the Dutch dynasty, and 
of the Devil's Stepping- 
stones ; and of the pirate 
hanged at Gibbet Island, 
that continued to swing 
there at night long after 
the gallows was taken 
down ; and of the ghost of the unfortunate Governor Leis- 
ler, hanged for treason, which haunted the old fort and 
government house. The gossiping knot dispersed, each 
charged with direful intelligence. The sexton disburdened 
himself at a vestry meeting that was held that very day, 
and the black cook forsook her kitchen, and spent half 
the day at the street pump, that gossiping place of servants, 
dealing forth the news to all that came for water. In a 

The Dutch dynasty : Note 13. DeviPs Stepping-stone: Note 14. 

Governor Leister : Note 15. 




Jacob Leisler's House. 



Dolph Heyliger. 23 

little time, the town was in a buzz with tales about the 
haunted house. Some said that Claus Hopper had seen 
the devil, while others hinted that the house was haunted 
by the ghosts of some of the patients whom the doctor 
had physicked out of the world, and that was the reason 
why he did not venture to live in it himself. 

All this put the little doctor in a terrible fume. He 
threatened vengeance on any one who should affect the 
value of his property by exciting popular prejudices. He 
complained loudly of thus being in a manner dispossessed 
of his territories by mere bugbears ; but he secretly deter- 
mined to have the house exorcised by the Dominie. Great 
was his relief, therefore, when, in the midst of his perplexi- 
ties, Dolph stepped forward and undertook to garrison the 
haunted house. The youngster had been listening to all 
the stories of Claus Hopper and Peter de Groodt : he was 
fond of adventure, he loved the marvellous, and his imagi- 
nation had become quite excited by these tales of wonder. 
Besides, he had led such an uncomfortable life at the 
doctor's, being subjected to the intolerable thraldom of 
early hours, that he was delighted at the prospect of hav- 
ing a house to himself, even though it should be a haunted 
one. His offer was eagerly accepted, and it was deter- 
mined that he should mount guard that very night. His 
only stipulation was, that the enterprise should be kept 
secret from his mother ; for he knew the poor soul would 
not sleep a wink, if she knew her son was waging war with 
the powers of darkness. 

When night came on, he set out on this perilous expedi- 
tion. The old black cook, his only friend in the house- 
hold, had provided him with a Httle mess for supper, and 
a rushlight ; and she tied round his neck an amulet, given 

Rushlight : a candle made by dipping a rush in tallow. 



24 



Dolph Heyliger. 



her by an African conjurer, as a charm against evil spirits, 
Dolph was escorted on his way by the doctor and Peter dci 
Groodt, who had agreed to accompany him to the house, f I 
and to see him safe lodged. The night was overcast, and 
it was very dark when they arrived at the grounds which j 
surrounded the mansion. The sexton led the way with af 
lantern. As they walked along the avenue of acacias, the 
fitful light, catching from bush to bush, and tree to tree, 
often startled the doughty Peter, and made him fall back 
upon his followers ; and the doctor grappled still closer r 
hold of Dolph's arm, observing that the ground was very 
sHppery and uneven. At one time they were nearly put 
to total rout by a bat, which came flitting about the lan- 
tern ; and the notes of the insects from the trees, and the i 
frogs from a neighboring pond, formed a most drowsy and 
doleful concert. 

The front door of the mansion opened with a grating 
sound, that made the doctor turn pale. They entered a i 

tolerably large hall, such I 
as is common in Ameri- 1 
can country-houses, and 
which serves for a sit- 
ting-room in warm! 
weather. From this they 
went up a wide staircase, 
that groaned and creaked.l 
as they trod, every step 
making its particular 
note, like the key of a 
harpsichord. This led to 
another hall on the second story, whence they entered the 
room where Dolph was to sleep. It was large, and scan- 

Harpsichord : an early form of the piano. 




An Old Harpsichord. 



Dolph Heyliger. 



25 



tily furnished ; the shutters were closed ; but as they were 
much broken, there was no want of a circulation of air. 
It appeared to have been that sacred chamber, known 
among Dutch housewives by the name of " the best bed- 
room"; which is the best furnished room in the house, but 
in which scarce anybody is ever permitted to sleep. Its 




The Old Fireplace. 



splendor, however, was all at an end. There were a few 
broken articles of furniture about the room, and in the 
centre stood a heavy deal table and a large arm-chair, both 
of which had the look of being coeval with the mansion. 
The fireplace was wide, and had been faced with Dutch 
tiles, representing Scripture stories ; but some of them 
had fallen out of their places, and lay shattered about the 



i6 Dolph Heyliger. 



^ 



hearth. The sexton lit the rushlight ; and the doctor, look- 
ing fearfully about the room, was just exhorting Dolph to 
be of good cheer, and to pluck up a stout heart, when a 
noise in the chimney, Hke voices and struggling, struck 
a sudden panic into the sexton. He took to his heels with 
the lantern ; the doctor followed hard after him ; the stairs 
groaned and creaked as they hurried down, increasing 
their agitation and speed by its noises. The front door 
slammed after them ; and Dolph heard them scrabbling 
down the avenue, till the sound of their feet was lost in the 
distance. That he did not join in this precipitate retreat, 
might have been owing to his possessing a little more 
courage than his companions, or perhaps that he had 
caught a glimpse of the cause of their dismay, in a nest 
of chimney swallows that came tumbling down into the 
fireplace. 

Being now left to himself, he secured the front door by 
a strong bolt and bar ; and having seen that the other en- 
trances were fastened, returned to his desolate chamber. 
Having made his supper from the basket which the good 
old cook had provided, he locked the chamber door, and 
retired to rest on a mattress in one corner. The night was 
calm and still ; and nothing broke upon the profound quiet 
but the lonely chirping of a cricket from the chimney of a 
distant chamber. The rushlight, which stood in the centre 
of the deal table, shed a feeble yellow ray, dimly illumining 
the chamber, and making uncouth shapes and shadows on 
the walls, from the clothes which Dolph had thrown over 
a chair. 

With all his boldness of heart, there was something sub- 
duing in this desolate scene ; and he felt his spirits flag 
within him, as he lay on his hard bed and gazed about the 
room. He was turning over in his mind his idle habits, his 



Dolph Heyliger. 27 

doubtful prospects, and now and then heaving a heavy 
sigh, as he thought on his poor old mother ; for there is 
nothing like the silence and loneliness of night to bring 
dark shadows over the brightest mind. By and by, he 
thought he heard a sound as of some one walking below 
stairs. He listened, and distinctly heard a step on the 
great staircase. It approached solemnly and slowly, tramp 

— tramp — tramp! It was evidently the tread of some 
heavy personage ; and yet how could he have got into the 
house without making a noise .'' He had examined all the 
fastenings, and was certain that every entrance was secure. 
Still the steps advanced, tramp — tramp — tramp ! It was 
evident that the person approaching could not be a robber 

— the step was too loud and deliberate ; a robber would 
either be stealthy or precipitate. And now the footsteps 
had ascended the staircase ; they were slowly advancing 
along the passage, resounding through the silent and 
empty apartments. The very cricket had ceased its 
melancholy note, and nothing interrupted their awful dis- 
tinctness. The door, which had been locked on the inside, 
slowly swung open, as if self-moved. The footsteps en- 
tered the room ; but no one was to be seen. They passed 
slowly and audibly across it, tramp — tramp — tramp ! but 
whatever made the sound was invisible. Dolph rubbed his 
eyes, and stared about him ; he could see to every part of 
the dimly lighted chamber ; all was vacant ; yet still he 
heard those mysterious footsteps, solemnly walking about 
the chamber. They ceased, and all was dead silence. 
There was something more appalling in this invisible visi- 
tation than there would have been in anything that ad- 
dressed itself to the eyesight. It was awfully vague and 

Tramp, tramp, tramp : Note i6. 

Awfully : the word is used here in the right meaning, inspiring awe. 



2 8 Dolph Heyliger. 

indefinite. He felt his heart beat against his ribs ; a cold 
sweat broke out upon his forehead ; he lay for some time 
in a state of violent agitation ; nothing, however, occurred 
to increase his alarm. His light gradually burnt down into 
the socket, and he fell asleep. When he awoke it was 
broad daylight ; the sun was peering through the cracks 
of the window-shutters, and the birds were merrily singing 
about the house. The bright, cheery day soon put to flight 
all the terrors of the preceding night. Dolph laughed, or 
rather tried to laugh, at all that had passed, and endeav- 
ored to persuade himself that it was a mere freak of the 
imagination, conjured up by the stories he had heard; but 
he was a little puzzled to find the door of his room locked 
on the inside, notwithstanding that he had positively seen 
it swing open as the footsteps had entered. He returned 
to town in a state of considerable perplexity ; but he deter- 
mined to say nothing on the subject, until his doubts were 
either confirmed or removed by another night's watching. 
His silence was a grievous disappointment to the gossips 
who had gathered at the doctor's mansion. They had pre- 
pared their minds to hear direful tales, and were almost in 
a rage at being assured he had nothing to relate. 

The next night, then, Dolph repeated his vigil. He now 
entered the house with some trepidation. He was particu- 
lar in examining the fastenings of all the doors, and secur- 
ing them well. He locked the door of his chamber and 
placed a chair against it ; then, having despatched his sup- 
per, he threw himself on his mattress and endeavored to 
sleep. It was in vain ; a thousand crowding fancies kept 
him waking. The time slowly dragged on, as if minutes 
were spinning themselves out into hours. As the night 
advanced, he grew more and more nervous ; and he almost 
started from his couch, when he heard the mysterious foot- 



Dolph Heyliger, 29 

step again on the staircase. Up it came, as before, sol- 
emnly and slowly, tramp — tramp — tramp ! It approached 
along the passage ; the door again swung open, as if there 
had been neither lock nor impediment, and a strange-look- 
ing figure stalked into the room. It was an elderly man, 
large and robust, clothed in the old Flemish fashion. He 
had on a kind of short cloak, with a garment under it, 
belted round the waist ; trunk hose, with great bunches or 
bows at the knees ; and a pair of russet boots, very large 
at top, and standing widely from his legs. His hat was 
broad and slouched, with a feather trailing over one side. 
His iron-gray hair hung in thick masses on his neck ; and 
he had a short grizzled beard. He walked slowly round 
the room, as if examining that all was safe ; then, hanging 
his hat on a peg beside the door, he sat down in the elbow- 
chair, and, leaning his elbow on the table, fixed his eyes on 
Dolph with an unmoving and deadening stare. 

Dolph was not naturally a coward ; but he had been 
brought up in an implicit belief in ghosts and goblins. A 
thousand stories came swarming to his mind, that he had 
heard about this building ; and as he looked at this strange 
personage, with his uncouth garb, his pale visage, his griz- 
zly beard, and his fixed, staring, fish-like eye, his teeth 
began to chatter, his hair to rise on his head, and a 
cold sweat to break out all over his body. How long he 
remained in this situation he could not tell, for he was like 
one fascinated. He could not take his gaze off from the 
spectre ; but lay staring at him with his whole intellect ab- 
sorbed in the contemplation. The old man remained seated 
behind the table, without stirring or turning an eye, always 
keeping a dead steady glare upon Dolph. At length the 

An elderly man: Note 17. 

Trunk hose: garment of breeches and stockings all in one, tights. 



JO Dolph Heyliger. 

household cock from a neighboring farm clapped his wings, 
and gave a loud cheerful crow that rung over the fields. 
At the sound, the old man slowly rose and took down his 
hat from the peg ; the door opened and closed after him ; 
he was heard to go slowly down the staircase, tramp — • 
tramp — tramp ! — and when he had got to the bottom, all 
was again silent. Dolph lay and listened earnestly ; counted 
every footfall ; listened and listened if the steps should 
return — until, exhausted by watching and agitation, he 
fell into a troubled sleep. 

Daylight again brought fresh courage and assurance. 
He would fain have considered all that had passed as a mere 
dream ; yet there stood the chair in which the unknown 
had seated himself ; there was the table on which he had 
leaned ; there was the peg on which he had hung his hat ; 
and there was the door, locked precisely as he himself had 
locked it, with the chair placed against it. He hastened 
downstairs and examined the doors and windows ; all were 
exactly in the same state in which he had left them, and 
there was no apparent way by which any being could 
have entered and left the house without leaving some trace 
behind. " Pooh ! " said Dolph to himself, " it was all a 
dream ; " — but it would not do ; the more he endeavored to 
shake the scene off from his mind, the more it haunted him. 

Though he persisted in a strict silence as to all that he 
had seen or heard, yet his looks betrayed the uncomfort- 
able night that he had passed. It was evident that there 
was something wonderful hidden under this mysterious 
reserve. The doctor took him into the study, locked the 
door, and sought to have a full and confidential communi- 
cation ; but he could get nothing out of him. Frau Ilsy 
took him aside into the pantry, but to as little purpose; 
and Peter de Groodt held him by the button for a full hour 



Dolph Heyliger. 31 

in the church-yard, the very place to get at the bottom of a 
ghost story, but came off not a whit wiser than the rest. It 
is always the case, however, that one truth concealed makes 
a dozen current lies. It is like a guinea locked up in a bank, 
that has a dozen paper representatives. Before the day was 
over, the neighborhood was full of reports. Some said that 
Dolph Heyliger v/atchedin the haunted house with pistols 
loaded with silver bullets; others, that he had a long talk 
with a spectre without a head ; others, that Dr. Knipper- 
hausen and the sexton had been hunted down the Bowery 
lane, and quite into town, by the legion of ghosts of their 
customers. Some shook their heads, and thought it a 
shame the doctor should put Dolph to pass the night alone 
in that dismal house, where he might be spirited away, no 
one knew whither; while others observed, with a shrug, 
that if the devil did carry off the youngster, it would be 
but taking his own. 

These rumors at length reached the ears of good Dame 
Heyliger, and, as may be supposed, threw her into a terrible 
alarm. For her son to have opposed himself to danger 
from living foes, would have been nothing so dreadful in 
her eyes as to dare alone the terrors of the haunted house. 
She hastened to the doctor's, and passed a great part of 
the day in attempting to dissuade Dolph from repeating 
his vigil ; she told him a score of tales, which her gossip- 
ing friends had just related to her, of persons who had been 
carried off when watching alone in old ruinous houses. It 
was all to no effect. Dolph's pride, as well as curiosity, 
was piqued. He endeavored to calm the apprehensions of 
his mother, and to assure her that there was no truth in 
all the rumors she had heard ; she looked at him dubiously. 

Silver bullets : the only kind of bullet by which it was supposed a ghost 
could be injured. 



32 



Dolph Heyliger. 




Little Thick Dutch Bible with Brass 
Clasps. 



and shook her head; but finding his determination was 
not to be shaken, she brought him a Httle thick Dutch 
Bible, with brass clasps, to take with him, as a sword 

wherewith to fight the 
powers of darkness ; 
and, lest that might 
not be sufficient, the 
housekeeper gave him 
the Heidelberg cate- 
chism by way of 
dagger. 

The next night, 
therefore, Dolph took up his quarters for the third time 
in the old mansion. Whether dream or not, the same 
thing was repeated. Towards midnight, when everything 
was still, the same sound echoed through the empty halls 
— tramp — tramp — tramp! The stairs were again as- 
cended; the door again swung open; the old man entered; 
walked round the room, hung up his hat, and seated 
himself by the table. The same fear and trembling came 
over poor Dolph, though not in so violent a degree. 
He lay in the same way, motionless and fascinated, 
staring at the figure, which regarded him, as before, with 
a dead, fixed, chilling gaze. In this way they remained 
for a long time, till, by degrees, Dolph's courage began 
gradually to revive. Whether alive or dead, this being 
had certainly some object in his visitation ; and he 
recollected to have heard it said, spirits have no power to 
speak until spoken to. Summoning up resolution, there- 
fore, and making two or three attempts before he could 
get his parched tongue in motion, he addressed the 
unknown in the most solemn form of adjuration, and 
demanded to know what was the motive of his visit. 



Dolph Heyliger. ^^ 

No sooner had he finished, than the old man rose, took 
down his hat, the door opened, and he went out, looking 
back upon Dolph just as he crossed the threshold, as if 
expecting him to follow. The youngster did not hesitate 
an instant. He took the candle in his hand, and the 
Bible under his arm, and obeyed the tacit invitation. The 
candle emitted a feeble, uncertain ray ; but still he could 
see the figure before him slowly descend the stairs. He 
followed, trembling. When it had reached the bottom of 
the stairs, it turned through the hall towards the back door 
of the mansion. Dolph held the light over the balus- 
trades ; but, in his eagerness to catch a sight of the un- 
known, he flared his feeble taper so suddenly, that it went 
out. Still there was sufficient light from the pale moon- 
beams, that fell through a narrow window, to give him an 
indistinct view of the figure near the door. He followed, 
therefore, down-stairs, and turned towards the place ; but 
when he arrived there, the unknown had disappeared. 
The door remained fast barred and bolted ; there was no 
other mode of exit ; yet the being, whatever he might be, 
was gone. He unfastened the door, and looked out into 
the fields. It was a hazy, moonlight night, so that the 
eye could distinguish objects at some distance. He thought 
he saw the unknown in a footpath which led from the 
door. He was not mistaken ; but how had he got out of 
the house .-* He did not pause to think, but followed on. 
The old man proceeded at a measured pace, without look- 
ing about him, his footsteps sounding on the hard ground. 
He passed through the orchard of apple-trees, always 
keeping the footpath. It led to a well, situated in a little 
hollow, which had supplied the farm with water. Just at 
this well, Dolph lost sight of him. He rubbed his eyes, 
and looked again ; but nothing was to be seen of the 



34 Dolph Heyllger. 

unknown. He reached the well, but nobody was there. 
All the surrounding ground was open and clear ; there 
was no bush nor hiding-place. He looked down the well, 
and saw, at a great depth, the reflection of the sky in the 
still water. After remaining here for some time, without 
seeing or hearing anything more of his mysterious con- 
ductor, he returned to the house, full of awe and wonder. 
He bolted the door, groped his way back to bed, and it 
was long before he could compose himself to sleep. 

His dreams were strange and troubled. He thought he 
was following the old man along the side of a great river, 
until they came to a vessel on the point of sailing ; and 
that his conductor led him on board and vanished. He 
remembered the commander of the vessel, a short swarthy 
man, with crisped black hair, blind of one eye, and lame 
of one leg ; but the rest of his dream was very confused. 
Sometimes he was sailing ; sometimes on shore ; now 
amidst storms and tempests, and now wandering quietly in 
unknown streets. The figure of the old man was strangely 
mingled up with the incidents of the dream ; and the 
whole distinctly wound up by his finding himself on board 
of the vessel again, returning home, with a great bag of 
money ! 

When he woke, the gray, cool light of dawn was streak- 
ing the horizon, and the cocks passing the reveille from 
farm to farm throughout the country. He rose more har- 
assed and perplexed than ever. He was singularly con- 
founded by all that he had seen and dreamt, and began 
to doubt whether his mind was not affected, and whether 
all that was passing in his thoughts might not be mere 
feverish fantasy. In his present state of mind, he did not 

Reveille : (French) the drum beat, which is a signal for the soldiers to get 
up in the morning. 



Dolph Heyllger. 2S 

feel disposed to return immediately to the doctor's, and 
undergo the cross-questioning of the household. He made 
a scanty breakfast, therefore, on the remains of the last 
night's provisions, and then wandered out into the fields 
to meditate on all that had befallen him. Lost in thought, 
he rambled about, gradually approaching the town, until 
the morning was far advanced, when he was roused by a 
hurry and bustle around him. He found himself near the 
water's edge, in a throng of people, hurrying to a pier, 
where was a vessel ready to make sail. He was uncon- 
sciously carried along by the impulse of the crowd, and 
found that it was a sloop, on the point of sailing up the 
Hudson to Albany. There was much leave-taking and 
kissing of old women and children, and great activity in 
carrying on board baskets of bread and cakes, and provi- 
sions of all kinds, notwithstanding the mighty joints of 
meat that dangled over the stern ; for a voyage to Albany 
was an expedition of great moment in those days. The 
commander of the sloop was hurrying about, and giving a 
world of orders, which were not very strictly attended to ; 
one man being busy in lighting his pipe, and another in 
sharpening his snicker-snee. 

The appearance of the commander suddenly caught 
Dolph's attention. He was short and swarthy, with 
crisped black hair ; blind of one eye, and lame of one 
leg — the very commander that he had seen in his dream ! 
Surprised and aroused, he considered the scene more atten- 
tively, and recalled still further traces of his dream : the 
appearance of the vessel, of the river, and of a variety of 
other objects, accorded with the imperfect images vaguely 
rising to recollection. 

As he stood musing on these circumstances, the captain 

Snickersnee : a large clasp knife. 



36 



Dolph Heyliger. 



suddenly called out to him in Dutch, " Step on board, 
young man, or you'll be left behind ! " He was startled 
by the summons ; he saw that the sloop was cast loose, 
and was actually moving from the pier ; it seemed as if 
he was actuated by some irresistible impulse ; he sprang 
upon the deck, and the next moment the sloop was hur- 




The Sloop. 

ried off by the wind and tide. Dolph's thoughts and 
feelings were all in tumult and confusion. He had been 
strongly worked upon by the events that had recently be- 
fallen him, and could not but think there was some con- 
nection between his present situation and his last night's 
dream. He felt as if under supernatural influence; and 
tried to assure himself with an old and favorite maxim of 



Dolph Heyllger. 



37 



his, that "one way or other, all would turn out for the 
best." For a moment, the indignation of the doctor at 
his departure, without leave, passed across his mind, but 
that was matter of little moment ; then he thought of 
the distress of his mother at his strange disappearance, 
and the idea gave him a sudden pang ; he would have en- 
treated to be put on shore ; but he knew with such wind 
and tide the entreaty would have been in vain. Then, the 
inspiring love of novelty and adventure came rushing in 




" Ploughing her Way past Yonkers.' 



full tide through his bosom ; he felt himself launched 
strangely and suddenly on the world, and under full way 
to explore the regions of wonder that lay up this mighty 
river, and beyond those blue mountains which had bounded 
his horizon since childhood. While he was lost in this 
whirl of thought, the sails strained to the breeze ; the 
shores seemed to hurry away behind him ; and, before 
he perfectly recovered his self-possession, the sloop was 
ploughing her way past Spiking-devil and Yonkers, and 
the tallest chimney of the Manhattoes had faded from his 
sight. 

Spiking-devil : Note i8. 



38 Dolph Heyliger. 

I have said, that a voyage up the Hudson in those days 
was an undertaking of some moment ; indeed, it was as 
much thought of as a voyage to Europe is at present. 
The sloops were often many days on the way ; the cau- 
tious navigators taking in sail when it blew fresh, and 
coming to anchor at night ; and stopping to send the boat 
ashore for milk for tea, without which it was impossible 
for the worthy old lady passengers to subsist. And there 




iimi^pnpiin;H2SJ1sdfH^j 




The Sloop was soon on the Joitrney up the Hudson. 

were the much-talked-of perils of the Tappaan Zee, and 
the highlands. In short, a prudent Dutch burgher would 
talk of such a voyage for months, and even years, before- 
hand ; and never undertook it without putting his affairs 
in order, making his will, and having prayers said for him 
in the Low Dutch churches. 

In the course of such a voyage, therefore, Dolph was 
satisfied he would have time enough to reflect, and to 

Tappaan Zee: the broadening, lake-like expansion of the Hudson from 
the Palisades to Croton Point, so called by the Dutch from the Tappan Ind- 
ians who dwelt along its shore. Note 19. 



Dolph Heyliger. 39 

make up his mind as to what he should do when he 
arrived at Albany. The captain, with his blind eye and 
lame leg, would, it is true, bring his strange dream to 
mind, and perplex him sadly for a few moments ; but of 
late, his life had been made up so much of dreams and 
realities, his nights and days had been so jumbled to- 
gether, that he seemed to be moving continually in a 
delusion. There is always, however, a kind of vagabond 
consolation in a man's having nothing in this world to 
lose ; with this Dolph comforted his heart, and determined 
to make the most of the present enjoyment. 

In the second day of the voyage they came to the high- 
lands. It was the latter part of a calm, sultry day, that 
they floated gently with the tide between these stern moun- 
tains. There was that perfect quiet which prevails over 
nature in the languor of summer heat ; the turning of a 
plank, or the accidental falling of an oar on deck, was 
echoed from the mountain side and reverberated along 
the shores ; and if by chance the captain gave a shout of 
command, there were airy tongues which mocked it from 
every cliff. 

Dolph gazed about him in mute delight and wonder, at 
these scenes of nature's magnificence. To the left the 
Dunderberg reared its woody precipices, height over 
height, forest over forest, away into the deep summer sky. 
To the right strutted forth the bold promontory of 
Antony's Nose : with a solitary eagle wheeling about it ; 
while beyond, mountain succeeded to mountain, until they 
seemed to lock their arms together, and confine this mighty 
river in their embraces. There was a feeling of quiet 
luxury in gazing at the broad, green bosoms here and there 
scooped out among the precipices ; or at woodlands high 

A cdbn, sultry day : Note 20. Antony'' s Nose : Note 21. 



40 



Dolph Heyliger. 



in air, nodding over the edge of some beetling bluff, and 
their foliage all transparent in the yellow sunshine. 

In the midst of his admiration, Dolph remarked a pile 
of bright, snowy clouds peering above the western heights. 
It was succeeded by another, and another, each seemingly 
pushing onwards its predecessor, and towering, with daz- 




Antony's Nose. (From an old print.) 



zling brilliancy, in the deep-blue atmosphere : and now 
muttering peals of thunder were faintly heard rolling 
behind the mountains. The river, hitherto still and glassy, 
reflecting pictures of the sky and land, now showed a dark 
ripple at a distance, as the breeze came creeping up it. 
The fish-hawks wheeled and screamed, and sought their 
nests on the high dry trees ; the crows flew clamorously to 

Rentarkcd : observed, noticed. 



Dolph Heyliger. 



41 



the crevices of the rocks, and all nature seemed conscious 
of the approaching thunder-gust. 

The clouds now rolled in volumes over the mountain 
tops ; their summits still bright and snowy, but the lower 
parts of an inky blackness. The rain began to patter 
down in broad and scattered drops ; the wind freshened, 




The Thunder crashed upon Dunderberg. 



and curled up the waves ; at length it seemed as if the 
bellying clouds were torn open by the mountain tops, and 
complete torrents of rain came rattling down. The light- 
ning leaped from cloud to cloud, and streamed quivering 
against the rocks, splitting and rending the stoutest forest 
trees. The thunder burst in tremendous explosions ; the 
peals were echoed from mountain to mountain ; they 
crashed upon Dunderberg, and rolled up the long defile 



42 Dolph Heyliger. 

of the highlands, each headland making a new echo, until 
Old Bull Hill seemed to bellow back the storm 

For a time the scudding rack and mist, and the sheeted 
rain, almost hid the landscape from the sight. There was 
a fearful gloom, illumined still more fearfully by the 
streams of lightning which glittered among the rain-drops. 
Never had Dolph beheld such an absolute warring of the 
elements : it seemed as if the storm was tearing and rend-, 
ing its way through this mountain defile, and had brought 
all the artillery of heaven into action. 

The vessel was hurried on by the increasing wind, until 
she came to where the river makes a sudden bend, the. 
only one in the whole course of its majestic career. JustI 
as they turned the point, a violent flaw of wind came 
sweeping down a mountain gully, bending the forest before 
it, and in a moment lashing up the river into white froth 
and foam. The captain saw the danger, and cried out to 
lower the sail. Before the order could be obeyed, the flaw 
struck the sloop, and threw her on her beam-ends. Every- 
thing now was fright and confusion : the flapping of the 
sails, the whistling and rushing of the wind, the bawling 
of the captain and crew, the shrieking of the passengers, 
all mingled with the rolling and bellowing of the thunder. 

In the midst of the uproar, the sloop righted ; at the 
same time the mainsail shifted, the boom came sweeping 
the quarter-deck, and Dolph, who was gazing unguardedly 
at the clouds, found himself, in a moment, floundering in 
the river. 

For once in his life, one of his idle accomplishments was 
of use to him. The many truant hours he had devoted to 
sporting in the Hudson, had made him an expert swim- 
mer; yet, with all his strength and skill, he found great 

Sudden bend: This must have been the bend at West Point. 



Dolph Heyliger. 43 

difficulty in reaching the shore. His disappearance from 
the deck had not been noticed by the crew, who were 
all occupied by their own danger. The sloop was driven 
along with inconceivable rapidity. She had hard work 
to weather a long promontory on the eastern shore, round 
which the river turned, and which completely shut her 
from Dolph's view. 

It was on a point of the western shore that he landed, 
and, scrambling up the rocks, threw himself, faint and 
exhausted, at the foot of a tree. By degrees, the thunder- 
gust passed over. The clouds rolled away to the east, where 
they lay piled in feathery masses, tinted with the last rosy 
rays of the sun. The distant play of the lightning might 
be seen about the dark bases, and now and then might be 
heard the faint muttering of the thunder. Dolph rose, and 
sought about to see if any path led from the shore ; but 
all was savage and trackless. The rocks were piled upon 
each other ; great trunks of trees lay shattered about, as 
they had been blown down by the strong winds which draw 
through these mountains, or had fallen through age. The 
rocks, too, were overhung with wild vines and briers, which 
completely matted themselves together, and opposed a 
barrier to all ingress ; every movement that he made 
shook down a shower from the dripping foliage. He 
attempted to scale one of these almost perpendicular 
heights ; but, though strong and agile, he found it an 
Herculean undertaking. Often he was supported merely 
by crumbling projections of the rock, and sometimes he 
clung to roots and branches of trees, and hung almost sus- 
pended in the air. The wood-pigeon came cleaving his 
whistling flight by him, and the eagle screamed from the 
brow of the impending cliff. As he was thus clambering, 
he was on the point of seizing hold of a shrub to aid his 



44 Dolph Heyliger. 

ascent, when something rustled among the leaves, and he 
saw a snake quivering along like lightning, almost from 
under his hand. It coiled itself up immediately, in an 
attitude of defiance, with flattened head, distended jaws, 
and quickly vibrating tongue, that played like a little flame 
about its mouth. Dolph's heart turned faint within him, 
and he had well-nigh let go his hold, and tumbled down 
the precipice. The serpent stood on the defensive but 
for an instant ; and finding there was no attack, it glided 
away into a cleft of the rock. Dolph's eye followed with 
fearful intensity, and saw a nest of adders, knotted, and 
writhing, and hissing in the chasm. He hastened with all 
speed to escape from so frightful a neighborhood. His 
imagination full of this new horror, saw an adder in every 
curling vine, and heard the tail of a rattlesnake in every 
dry leaf that rustled. 

At length he succeeded in scrambling to the summit of 
a precipice ; but it was covered by a dense forest. Wher- 
ever he could gain a look-out between the trees, he beheld 
heights and cliffs, one rising beyond another, until huge 
mountains overtopped the whole. There were no signs 
of cultivation, no smoke curling among the trees, to 
indicate a human residence. Everything was wild and 
solitary. As he was standing on the edge of a precipice 
overlooking a deep ravine fringed with trees, his feet 
detached a great fragment of rock ; it fell, crashing its 
way through the tree tops, down into the chasm. A loud 
whoop, or rather yell, issued from the bottom of the glen ; 
the moment after, there was the report of a gun ; and a 
ball came whistling over his head, cutting the twigs and 
leaves, and burying itself deep in the bark of a chestnut- 
tree. 

Dolph did not wait for a second shot, but made a precipi- 



Dolph Heyliger. 45 

tate retreat, fearing every moment to hear the enemy in 
pursuit. He succeeded, however, in returning unmolested 
to the shore, and determined to penetrate no farther into a 
country so beset with savage perils. 

He sat himself down, dripping, disconsolately, on a wet 
stone. What was to be done ? where was he to shelter 
himself ? The hour of repose was approaching ; the birds 
were seeking their nests, the bat began to flit about in the 
twilight, and the night-hawk, soaring high in the heaven, 
seemed to be calling out the stars. Night gradually 
closed in, and wrapped everything in gloom ; and though 
it was the latter part of summer, the breeze, stealing 
along the river, and among these dripping forests, was 
chilly and penetrating, especially to a half-drowned man. 

As he sat drooping and despondent in this comfortless 
condition, he perceived a light gleaming through the trees 
near the shore, where the winding of the river made a 
deep bay. It cheered him with the hope of a human 
habitation, where he might get something to appease the 
clamorous cravings of his stomach, and, what was equally 
necessary in his shipwrecked condition, a comfortable 
shelter for the night. With extreme difficulty he made 
his way towards the Hght, along ledges of rocks down 
which he was in danger of sliding into the river, and over 
great trunks of fallen trees ; some of which had been 
blown down in the late storm, and lay so thickly together, 
that he had to struggle through their branches. At length 
he came to the brow of a rock overhanging a small dell, 
whence the light proceeded. It was from a fire at the 
foot of a great tree, in the midst of a grassy interval, or 
plat, among the rocks. The fire cast up a red glare 
among the gray crags and impending trees; leaving 
chasms of deep gloom that resembled entrances to cav- 



46 Dolph Heyliger. 

erns. A small brook rippled close by, betrayed by the 
quivering reflection of the flame. There were two figures 
moving about the fire, and others squatted before it. As 
they were between him and the light, they were in com- 
plete shadow ; but one of them happening to move round 
to the opposite side, Dolph was startled at perceiving, by 
the glare falling on painted features, and glittering on 
silver ornaments, that he was an Indian. He now looked 
more narrowly, and saw guns leaning against a tree, and 
a dead body lying on the ground. 

Here was the very foe that had fired at him from the 
glen. He endeavored to retreat quietly, not caring to 
entrust himself to these half-human beings in so savage 
and lonely a place. It was too late : the Indian, with that 
eagle quickness of eye so remarkable in his race, perceived 
something stirring among the bushes on the rock : he seized 
one of the guns that leaned against the tree ; one moment 
more, and Dolph might have had his passion for adventure 
cured by a bullet. He hallooed loudly, with the Indian 
salutation of friendship : the whole party sprang upon 
their feet ; the salutation was returned, and the straggler 
was invited to join them at the fire. 

On approaching, he found, to his consolation, the party 
was composed of white men as well as Indians. One, evi- 
dently the principal personage, or commander, was seated 
on a trunk of a tree before the fire. He was a large, stout 
man, somewhat advanced in life, but hale and hearty. His 
face was bronzed almost to the color of an Indian's ; he 
had strong but rather jovial features, an aquiline nose, 
and a mouth shaped like a mastiff's. His face was half 
thrown in shade by a broad hat, with a buck's-tail in it. 
His gray hair hung short in his neck. He wore a hunting- 
frock, with Indian leggings, and moccasons, and a toma- 




A Rock overhanging a Small Dell. 



48 Dolph Heyllger. 

hawk in the broad wampum belt round his waist. As 
Dolph caught a distinct view of his person and features, 
something reminded him of the old man of the haunted 
house. The man before him, however, was different in 
dress and age ; he was more cheery, too, in aspect, and it 
was hard to define where the vague resemblance lay ; but a 
resemblance there certainly was. Dolph felt some degree 
of awe in approaching him ; but was assured by a frank, 
hearty welcome. He was still further encouraged, by per- 
ceiving that the dead body, which had caused him some 
alarm, was that of a deer ; and his satisfaction was com- 
plete, in discerning, by savory steams from a kettle sus- 
pended by a hooked stick over the fire, that there was a 
part cooking for the evening's repast. 

He had in fact fallen in with a rambling hunting party, 
such as often took place in those days among the settlers 
along the river. The hunter is always hospitable ; and noth- 
ing makes men more social and unceremonious than meet- 
ing in the wilderness. The commander of the party poured 
out a dram of cheering liquor, which he gave him with a 
merry leer, to warm his heart ; and ordered one of his fol- 
lowers to fetch some garments from a pinnace, moored in 
a cove close by, while those in which our hero was dripping 
might be dried before the fire. 

Dolph found, as he had suspected, that the shot from 
the glen, which had come so near giving him his quietus 
when on the precipice, was from the party before him. 
He had nearly crushed one of them by the fragments of 
rock which he had detached ; and the jovial old hunter, in 
the broad hat and buck-tail, had fired at the place where 

Old man of the haunted house : take particular notice of this point, and 
remember it. "Why ? 

Leer : means here merely a look. 




HUDSON RIVER 

TO ILLUSTRATE 
DOLPH HEYLIGER 



J f^./ji\IEVV YORK 




^o Dolph Hey] 



he saw the bushes move, supposing it to be some wild ani- 
mal. He laughed heartily at the blunder ; it being what 
is considered an exceeding good joke among hunters ; " but 
faith, my lad," said he, "if I had but caught a glimpse of 
you to take sight at, you would have followed the rock. 
Antony Vander Heyden is seldom known to miss his aim." 
These last words were at once a clew to Dolph's curiosity ; 
and a few questions let him completely into the character 
of the man before him, and of his band of woodland rangers. 
The commander in the broad hat and hunting-frock was no 
less a personage than the Heer Antony Vander Heyden, of 
Albany, of whom Dolph had many a time heard. He was, 
in fact, the hero of many a story ; his singular humors and 
whimsical habits being matters of wonder to his quiet 
Dutch neighbors. As he was a man of property, having 
had a father before him, from whom he inherited large 
tracts of wild land, and whole barrels full of wampum, he 
could indulge his humors without control. Instead of stay- 
ing quietly at home, eating and drinking at regular meal 
times, amusing himself by smoking his pipe on the bench 
before the door, and then turning into a comfortable bed 
at night, he delighted in all kinds of rough, wild expedi- 
tions. Never so happy as when on a hunting party in the 
wilderness, sleeping under trees or bark sheds, or cruising 
down the river, or on some woodland lake, fishing and fowl- 
ing, and living the Lord knows how. 

He was a great friend to Indians, and to an Indian mode 
of life ; which he considered true natural liberty and manly 
enjoyment. When at home, he had always several Ind- 
ian hangers-on, who loitered about his house, sleeping like 
hounds in the sunshine, or preparing hunting and fishing- 
tackle for some new expedition, or shooting at marks with 
bows and arrows. 

Watnpum : Note 22. 



Qf 1 



Dolph Heyliger. 51 

Over these vagrant beings, Heer Antony had as perfect 
command as a huntsman over his pack ; though they were 
great nuisances to the regular people of his neighborhood. 
As he was a rich man, no one ventured to thwart his 
humors ; indeed, his hearty, joyous manner made him 
universally popular. He would troll a Dutch song, as he 
tramped along the street ; hail every one a mile off, and 
when he entered a house, would slap the good man famil- 
iarly on the back, shake him by the hand till he roared, 
and kiss his wife and daughter before his face — - in short, 
there was no pride nor ill-humor about Heer Antony. 

Besides his Indian hangers-on, he had three or four 
humble friends among the white men, who looked up to 
him as a patron, and had the run of his kitchen, and the 
favor of being taken with him occasionally on his expedi- 
tions. With a medley of such retainers he was at present 
on a cruise along the shores of the Hudson, in a pinnace 
kept for his own recreation. There were two white men 
with him, dressed partly in the Indian style, with mocca- 
sons and hunting-shirt ; the rest of his crew consisted of 
four favorite Indians. They had been prowling about the 
river, without any definite object, until they found them- 
selves in the highlands ; where they had past two or three 
days, hunting the deer which still lingered among these 
mountains. 

" It is lucky for you, young man," said Antony Vander 
Heyden, " that you happened to be knocked overboard 
to-day ; as to-morrow morning we start early on our return 
homewards, and you might then have looked in vain for a 
meal among the mountains — but come, lads, stir about ! 
stir about ! Let's see what prog we have for supper ; the 
kettle has boiled long enough ; my stomach cries cup- 

Prog : victuals, usually begged or stolen. 



52 Dolph Heyliger. 



board; and I'll warrant our guest is in no mood to dally 
with his trencher." 

There was a bustle now in the little encampment. One 
took off the kettle, and turned a part of the contents into 
a huge wooden bowl ; another prepared a flat rock for a 
table ; while a third brought various utensils from the 
pinnace ; Heer Antony himself brought a flask or two of 
precious liquor from his own private locker ; knowing his 
boon companions too well to trust any of them with the 
key. 

A rude but hearty repast was soon spread, consisting 
of venison smoking from the kettle, with cold bacon, 
boiled Indian corn, and mighty loaves of good brown 
household bread. Never had Dolph made a more deli- 
cious repast ; and when he had washed it down with two 
or three draughts from the Heer Antony's flask, and felt 
the jolly liquor sending its warmth through his veins, 
and glowing round his very heart, he would not have 
changed his situation, no, not with the governor of the 
province. 

The Heer Antony, too, grew chirping and joyous ; told 
half-a-dozen fat stories, at which his white followers 
laughed immoderately, though the Indians, as usual, main- 
tained an invincible gravity. 

" This is your true life, my boy ! " said he, slapping 
Dolph on the shoulder ; " a man is never a man till he 
can defy wind and weather, range woods and wilds, sleep 
under a tree, and live on bass-wood leaves ! " 

And then would he sing a stave or two of a Dutch drink- 
ing song, swaying a short squab Dutch bottle in his hand, 
while his myrmidons would join in the chorus, until the 
woods echoed again ; — as the good old song has it : 

Dally -with his trencher : " play with his knife and fork." 



n 



Dolph Heyliger. 53 

" They all with a shout made the elements ring, 
So soon as the office was o'er ; 
To feasting they went with true merriment, 
And tippled strong liquor gillore." 

In the midst of his joviality, however, Heer Antony 
did not lose sight of discretion. Though he pushed the 
bottle without reserve to Dolph, he always took care to 
help his followers himself, knowing the beings he had to 
deal with ; and was particular in granting but a moderate 
allowance to the Indians. The repast being ended, the 
Indians having drunk their liquor and smoked their pipes, 
now wrapped themselves in their blankets, stretched them- 
selves on the ground with their feet to the fire, and soon 
fell asleep, like so many tired hounds. The rest of the 
party remained chatting before the fire, which the gloom 
of the forest, and the dampness of the air from the late 
storm, rendered extremely grateful and comforting. The 
conversation gradually moderated from the hilarity of sup- 
per-time, and turned upon hunting adventures, and exploits 
and perils in the wilderness ; many of which were so 
strange and improbable, that I will not venture to repeat 
them, lest the veracity of Antony Vander Heyden and his 
comrades should be brought into question. There were 
many legendary tales told, also, about the river, and the 
settlements on its borders ; in which valuable kind of lore, 
the Heer Antony seemed deeply versed. As the sturdy 
bush-beater sat in a twisted root of a tree, that served him 
for an arm-chair, dealing forth these wild stories, with the 
fire gleaming on his strongly marked visage, Dolph was 
again repeatedly perplexed by something that reminded 
him of the phantom of the haunted house ; some vague re- 

Gillore : generally written " galore," in plenty. 

Haunted house : do you suspect that there is any purpose in repeating this 
suggestion ? What is it ? 



54 Dolph Heyliger. 

semblance, not to be fixed upon any precise feature or linea- 
ment, but pervading the general air of his countenance 
and figure. 

The circumstance of Dolph's falling overboard led to 
the relation of divers disasters and singular mishaps that 
had befallen voyagers on this great river, particularly in 
the earlier periods of colonial history ; most of which the 
Heer deliberately attributed to supernatural causes. Dolph 
stared at this suggestion ; but the old gentleman assured 
him it was very currently believed by the settlers along 
the river, that these highlands were under the dominion 
of supernatural and mischievous beings, which seemed to 
have taken some pique against the Dutch colonists in the 
early time of the settlement. In consequence of this, they 
have ever taken particular delight in venting their spleen, 
and indulging their humors, upon the Dutch skippers ; 
bothering them with flaws, head winds, counter currents, 
and all kinds of impediments ; insomuch that a Dutch 
navigator was always obliged to be exceedingly wary and 
deliberate in his proceedings ; to come to anchor at dusk ; 
to drop his peak, or take in sail, whenever he saw a swag- 
bellied cloud rolling over the mountains ; in short, to take 
so many precautions, that he was often apt to be an incredi- 
ble time in toiling up the river. 

Some, he said, believed these mischievous powers of the 
air to be evil spirits conjured up by the Indian wizards, in 
the early times of the province, to revenge themselves on 
the strangers who had dispossessed them of their country. 
They even attributed to their incantations the misadven- 
ture which befell the renowned Hendrick Hudson, when 
he sailed so gallantly up this river in quest of a north-west 
passage, and, as he thought, run his ship aground ; which 

Peak : the upper end of the gaff. Hendrick Hudson : Note 23. 



Dolph Heyliger. 



5S 



they affirm was nothing more nor less than a spell of these 
same wizards, to prevent his getting to China in this 
direction. 

The greater part, however, Heer Antony observed, 
accounted for all the extraordinary circumstances attend- 
ing this river, and the perplexi- 
ties of the skippers who navi- 
gated it, by the old legend of 
the Storm-ship, which haunted 
Point-no-point. On finding 
Dolph to be utterly ignorant 
of this tradition, the Heer 
stared at him for a moment 
with surprise, and wondered 
where he had passed his life, 
to be uninformed on so impor- 
tant a point of history. To 
pass away the remainder of 
the evening, therefore, he un- 
dertook the tale, as far as his 
memory would serve, in the 
very words in which it had been 

written out by Mynheer Selyne, an early poet of the New 
Nederlandts. Giving, then, a stir to the fire, that sent up 
its sparks among the trees like a little volcano, he adjusted 
himself comfortably in his root of a tree ; and throwing 
back his head, and closing his eyes for a few moments, 
to summon up his recollection, he related the following 
legend : 




Henry Hudson. 

From the painting said to be from the 
Hfe, in the possession of the Corpora- 
tion of the City of New York. 



56 



Dolph Heyliger. 



THE STORM SHIP. 



In the golden age of the province of the New Nether- 
lands, when it was under the sway of Wouter Van Twiller, 
otherwise called the Doubter, the people of the Manhat- 
toes were alarmed, one sultry afternoon, just about the 
time of the summer solstice, by a tremendous storm of 
thunder and lightning. The rain fell in such torrents, 

as absolutely to 
spatter up and 
smoke along the 
ground. It seemed 
as if the thunder 
rattled and rolled 
over the very roofs 
of the houses ; the 
lightning was seen 
to play about the 
church of St. 
Nicholas, and to 
strive three times, 
in vain, to strike 
its weather-cock. 
Garret Van Home's 
new chimney was 
split almost from 
top to bottom; and 
Doffue Milde- 
berger was struck speechless from his bald-faced mare, just 
as he was riding into town. In a word, it was one of those 
unparalleled storms, which only happen once within the 

The golden age : Note 24. 




Wouter Van Twiller. 

After the picture by E. H. Boughton. 



The Storm Ship. 57 

memory of that venerable personage, known in all towns 
by the appellation of " the oldest inhabitant." 

Great was the terror of the good old women of the Man- 
hattoes. They gathered their children together, and took 
refuge in the cellars ; after having hung a shoe on the iron 
point of every bed-post, lest it should attract the lightning. 
At length the storm abated ; the thunder sunk into a 
growl ; and the setting sun, breaking from under the 
fringed borders of the clouds, made the broad bosom of 
the bay to gleam like a sea of molten gold. 

The word was given from the fort, that a ship was 
standing up the bay. It passed from mouth to mouth, and 
street to street, and soon put the little capital in a bustle. 
The arrival of a ship in those early times of the settlement, 
was an event of vast importance to the inhabitants. It 
brought them news from the old world, from the land of 
their birth, from which they were so completely severed : 
to the yearly ship, too, they looked for their supply of 
luxuries, of finery, of comforts, and almost of neces- 
saries. The good vrouw could not have her new cap, 
nor new gown, until the arrival of the ship ; the artist 
waited for it for his tools, the burgomaster for his pipe 
and his supply of Hollands, the schoolboy for his top and 
marbles, and the lordly landholder for the bricks with 
which he was to build his new mansion. Thus every one, 
rich and poor, great and small, looked out for the arrival 
of the ship. It was the great yearly event of the town of 
New Amsterdam ; and from one end of the year to the 
other, the ship — the ship — the ship — was the continual 
topic of conversation. 

The news from the fort, therefore, brought all the populace 

Vromv : (Dutch) woman, wife. Hollands : gin made from juniper berries. 
T/ie ship : what is the force of this repetition ? 



58 



Dolph Heyllger. 



down to the battery, to behold the wished-f or sight. It was 
not exactly the time when she had been expected to arrive, 
and the circumstance was a matter of some speculation. 
Many were the groups collected about the battery. Here 
and there might be seen a burgomaster, of slow and pom- 
pous gravity, giving his opinion with great confidence to a 




Many were the Groups collected alout the Baitery. 



crowd of old women and idle boys. At another place was 
a knot of old weatherbeaten fellows, who had been seamen 
or fishermen in their times, and were great authorities on 
such occasions ; these gave different opinions, and caused 
great disputes among their several adherents : but the man 
most looked up to, and followed and watched by the crowd. 

Battery : now one of the pleasantest promenades in New York, situated at 
the extreme end of the city, looking out to sea, and so called because of the 
battery of six guns which was set up in the old fort now long since demolished. 
Knickerbocker, V, 7. 



The Storm Ship. 



59 



was Hans Van Pelt, an old Dutch sea-captain retired from 
service, the nautical oracle of the place. He reconnoitred 
the ship through an ancient telescope, covered with tarry 
canvas, hummed a Dutch tune to himself, and said nothing. 
A hum, however, from Hans Van Pelt had always more 
weight with the public than a speech from another man. 




The Storm Ship. 



In the meantime, the ship became more distinct to the 
naked eye : she was a stout, round, Dutch-built vessel, with 
high bow and poop, and bearing Dutch colors. The even- 
ing sun gilded her bellying canvas, as she came riding over 
the long waving billows. The sentinel who had given no- 
tice of her approach declared that he first got sight of her 
when she was in the centre of the bay ; and that she broke 
suddenly on his sight, just as if she had come out of the 
bosom of the black thunder-cloud. The bystanders looked 



6o Dolph Heyliger. 

at Hans Van Pelt, to see what he would say to this report 
Hans Van Pelt screwed his mouth closer together, and^ 
said nothing ; upon which some shook their heads, and 
others shrugged their shoulders. 

The ship was now repeatedly hailed, but made no reply, 
and, passing by the fort, stood on up the Hudson. A gun 
was brought to bear on her, and, with some difficulty, loaded 
and fired by Hans Van Pelt, the garrison not being expert 
in artillery. The shot seemed absolutely to pass through 
the ship, and to skip along the water on the other side, but 
no notice was taken of it ! What was strange, she had all 
her sails set, and sailed right against wind and tide, which 
were both down the river. Upon this Hans Van Pelt, who 
was likewise harbor-master, ordered his boat, and set off to 
board her ; but after rowing two or three hours, he returned 
without success. Sometimes he would get within one or 
two hundred yards of her, and then, in a twinkling, she 
would be half a mile off. Some said it was because his 
oarsmen, who were rather pursy and short-winded, stopped 
every now and then to take breath, and spit on their hands; 
but this, it is probable, was a mere scandal. He got near 
enough, however, to see the crew ; who were all dressed 
in the Dutch style, the officers in doublets and high hats 
and feathers : not a word was spoken by any one on board ; 
they stood as motionless as so many statues, and the ship 
seemed as if left to her own government. Thus she kept 
on, away up the river, lessening and lessening in the even- 
ing sunshine, until she faded from sight, like a little white 
cloud melting away in the summer sky. 

The appearance of this ship threw the governor into 
one of the deepest doubts that ever beset him in the whole 

Doubled : from the French doubler, to line ; originally a garment used as 
an inner lining to another. 



The Storm Ship. 



6i 



course of his administration. Fears were entertained for 
the security of the infant settlements on the river, lest this 
might be an enemy's ship in disguise, sent to take posses- 
sion. The governor called together his council repeatedly 
to assist him with their conjectures. He sat in his chair of 




The House in the Wood at the Hague. 



state, built of timber from the sacred forest of the Hague, 
smoking his long jasmine pipe, and listening to all that his 
counsellors had to say on a subject about which they knew 
nothing ; but, in spite of all the conjecturing of the sagest 
and oldest heads, the governor still continued to doubt. 

The Hague : sacred forest of The Hague, refers to the forests surrounding 
the royal palace at The Hague, in Holland, which is called " The House in the 
Wood." Note 25. 



62 Dolph Heyliger. 

Messengers were despatched to different places on the 
river; but they returned without any tidings — the ship 
had made no port. Day after day, and week after week, 
elapsed; but she never returned down the Hudson. As, 
however, the council seemed solicitous for intelligence, they 
had it in abundance. The captains of the sloops seldom 
arrived without bringing some report of having seen the 
strange ship at different parts of the river; sometimes 
near the Palisadoes, sometimes off Croton Point, and some- 
times in the highlands ; but she never was reported as 
having been seen above the highlands. The crews of the 
sloops, it is true, generally differed among themselves in 
their accounts of these apparitions ; but that may have 
arisen from the uncertain situations in which they saw her. 
Sometimes it was by the flashes of the thunder-storm 
lighting up a pitchy night, and giving glimpses of her 
careering across Tappaan Zee, or the wide waste of 
Haverstraw Bay. At one moment she would appear close 
upon them, as if likely to run them down, and would 
throw them into great bustle and alarm ; but the next 
flash would show her far off, always sailing against the 
wind. Sometimes, in quiet moonlight nights, she would 
be seen under some high bluff of the highlands, all in 
deep shadow, excepting her top-sails glittering in the 
moonbeams ; by the time, however, that the voyagers 
reached the place, no ship was to be seen ; and when they 
had passed on for some distance, and looked back, behold ! 
there she was again with her top-sails in the moonshine ! 
Her appearance was always just after, or just before, or 
just in the midst of, unruly weather; and she was known 

Palisadoes : the steep wall of rock on the west bank of the Hudson River, 
which rises from three hundred to five hundred feet, and stretches twenty 
miles northward from New York City. 




The Palisades. 



64 



Dolph Heyliger. 



among the skippers and voyagers of the Hudson, by the 
name of "the storm ship." 

These reports perplexed the governor and his council 
more than ever ; and it would be endless to repeat the 
conjectures and opinions uttered on the subject. Some 
quoted cases in point, of ships seen off the coast of Nev/ 
England, navigated by witches and goblins. Old Hans 




Haverstraw Bay. 



Van Pelt, who had been more than once to the Dutch 
colony at the Cape of Good Hope, insisted that this mus'v. 
be the Flying Dutchman which had so long haunted Table 
Bay, but, being unable to make port, had now sought 
another harbor. Others suggested, that, if it really was 
a supernatural apparition, as there was every natural 

Table Bay : the large bay with the famous Table Mountain behind it at 
the extreme south of the continent of Africa. Note 26, 



The Storm Ship. 



65 



reason to believe, it might be Hendrick Hudson, and his 
crew of the Half-Moon ; who, it was well known, had once 
run aground in the upper part of the river, in seeking a 
northwest passage to China. This opinion had very little 
weight with the governor, but it passed current out of 
doors ; for indeed it had already been reported, that Hen- 
drick Hudson and his crew haunted the Kaatskill Moun- 
tain ; and it appeared very reasonable to suppose, that 
his ship might infest the river, where the enterprise was 




Table Mountain. 



baffled, or that it might bear the shadowy crew to their 
periodical revels in the mountain. 

Other events occurred to occupy the thoughts and 
doubts of the sage Wouter and his council, and the storm 
ship ceased to be a subject of deliberation at the board. 
It continued, however, a matter of popular belief and mar- 
vellous anecdote through the whole time of the Dutch 
government, and particularly just before the capture of 
New Amsterdam, and the subjugation of the province by 
the English squadron. About that time the storm ship 



66 



Dolph Heyliger. 



was repeatedly seen in the Tappaan Zee, and about Wee- 
hawk, and even down as far as Hoboken ; and her appear- 
ance was supposed to be ominous of the approaching 
squall in public affairs, and the downfall of Dutch domi- 
nation. 

Since that time, we have no authentic accounts of her; 
though it is said she still haunts the highlands and cruises 




T^, ^=V»- 



^■ 



The " Half-Moon " at the Highlands. 

(After the painting by T. Moran.) 

about Point-no-point. People who live along the river, 
insist that they sometimes see her in summer moonlight; 
and that in a deep still midnight, they have heard the 
chant of her crew, as if heaving the lead ; but sights and 
sounds are so deceptive along the mountainous shores, and 

Heaving the lead : finding out the depth of the water by dropping a piece 
of lead, attached to a line, into the sea. The sailors often accompany this, as 
well as their other duties on board ship, with songs that are heard nowhere 
else. These songs are called " shanties," a word which comes from the 
French word cha)iter, to sing, or our own English word to chant. 



The Storm Ship. 



67 



about the wide bays and long reaches of this great river, 
that I confess I have very strong doubts upon the subject. 
It is certain, nevertheless, that strange things have been 
seen in these highlands in storms, which are considered as 
connected with the old story of the ship. The captains of 
the river craft talk of a little bulbous-bottomed Dutch gob- 
lin, in trunk hose and sugar-loafed hat, with a speaking 
trumpet in his hand, which they say keeps about the Dun- 




" It was seen about Weehawk." 



derberg.* They declare they have heard him, in stormy 
weather, in the midst of the turmoil, giving orders in Low 
Dutch for the piping up of a fresh gust of wind, or the 
rattling off of another thunder-clap. That sometimes he 
has been seen surrounded by a crew of httle imps in broad 
breeches and short doublets ; tumbling head-over-heels in 
the rack and mist, and playing a thousand gambols in the 
air ; or buzzing like a swarm of flies about Antony's Nose ; 
and that, at such times, the hurry-scurry of the storm was 
* I.e. the " Thunder-Mountain," so called from its echoes. 



68 Dolph Heyliger. 

always greatest. One time, a sloop, in passing by the 
Dunderberg, was overtaken by a thunder-gust, that came 
scouring round the mountain, and seemed to burst just 
over the vessel. Though tight and well ballasted, she 
labored dreadfully, and the water came over the gunwale. 
All the crew were amazed, when it was discovered that 
there was a little white sugar-loaf hat on the mast-head, 



Pollopol's Island. 

known at once to be the hat of the Heer of the Dunder- 
berg. Nobody, however, dared to climb to the mast-head, 
and get rid of this terrible hat. The sloop continued 
laboring and rocking, as if she would have rolled her mast 
overboard. She seemed in continual danger either of 
upsetting or of running on shore. In this way she drove 
quite through the highlands, until she had passed Pollo- 
pol's Island, where, it is said, the jurisdiction of the Dun- 
derberg potentate ceases. No sooner had she passed this 

Gunwale : pronounced gunU. The wales of a ship are the pieces of timl^er 
passing around its sides and forming its curves. The top one of all is called 
the gunwale because when the wooden ships carried guns it was pierced so 
that they could be run out. 



The Storm Ship. 69 

bourne, than the little hat spun up into the air like a top, 
whirled up all the clouds into a vortex, and hurried them 
back to the summit of the Dunderberg, while the sloop 
righted herself, and sailed on as quietly as if in a mill- 
pond. Nothing saved her from utter wreck, but the for- 
tunate circumstance of having a horse-shoe nailed against 
the mast ; a wise precaution against evil spirits, since 
adopted by all the Dutch captains that navigate this 
haunted river. 

There is another story told of this foul-weather urchin, 
by Skipper Daniel Ouslesticker, of Fishkill, who was never 
known to tell a lie. He declared, that, in a severe squall, 
he saw him seated astride of his bowsprit, riding the sloop 
ashore, full butt against Antony's Nose ; and that he was 
exorcised by Dominie Van Gieson, of Esopus, who hap- 
pened to be on board, and who sung the hymn of St. 
Nicholas ; whereupon the goblin threw himself up in the 
air like a ball, and went off in a whirlwind, carrying away 
with him the nightcap of the Dominie's wife ; which was 
discovered the next Sunday morning hanging on the 
weathercock of Esopus church steeple, at least forty 
miles off ! Several events of this kind having taken 
place, the regular skippers of the river, for a long time, 
did not venture to pass the Dunderberg, without lowering 
their peaks, out of homage to the Heer of the mountain ; 
and it was observed that all such as paid this tribute of 
respect were suffered to pass unmolested.* 

Saint Nicholas : the saint who is supposed to protect sailors and all trav- 
ellers. He is also the patron saint of the Dutch. Santa Clans is a corrup- 
tion of his name. Note 27. 

* Among the superstitions which prevailed in the colonies during the early 
times of the settlements, there seems to have been a singular one about phan- 
tom ships. The superstitious fancies of men are always apt to turn upon 
those objects which concern their daily occupations. The solitary ship, which 



yo Dolph Heyliger. 

" Such," said Antony Vander Heyden, " are a few of 
the stories written down by Selyne the poet concerning 
this storm ship ; which he affirms to have brought a crew 
of mischievous imps into the province, from some old ghost- 
ridden country of Europe. I could give you a host more, 
if necessary ; for all the accidents that so often befall the 
river craft in the highlands, are said to be tricks played 
off by these imps of the Dunderberg : but I see that you 
are nodding, so let us turn in for the night. " — 

The moon had just raised her silver horns above the 
round back of Old Bull Hill, and lit up the gray rocks and 
shagged forests, and glittered on the waving bosom of the 
river. The night-dew was falling, and the late gloomy 
mountains began to soften, and put on a gray aerial tint 
in the dewy hght. The hunters stirred the fire, and threw 
on fresh fuel to qualify the damp of the night air. They 
then prepared a bed of branches and dry leaves under a 
ledge of rocks, for Dolph ; while Antony Vander Heyden, 
wrapping himself in a huge coat of skins, stretched himself 

from year to year, came like a raven in the wilderness, bringing to the inhab- 
itants of a settlement the comforts of life from the world from which they were 
cut off, was apt to be present to their dreams, whether sleeping or waking. 
The accidental sight from shore, of a sail gliding along the horizon, in those, 
as yet, lonely seas, was apt to be a matter of much talk and speculation. 
There is mention made in one of the early New England writers, of a ship 
navigated by witches, with a great horse that stood by the mainmast. I have 
met v/ith another story, somewhere, of a ship that drove on shore in fair, 
sunny, tranquil weather, with sails all set, and a table spread in the cabin, as 
if to regale a number of guests, yet not a living being on board. These phan- 
tom ships always sailed in the eye of the wind ; or ploughed their way with 
great velocity, making the smooth sea foam before their bows, when not a 
breath of air was stirring. 

Moore has finely wrought up one of these legends of the sea into a little 
tale which, within a small compass, contains the very essence of this species of 
supernatural fiction. I allude to his Spectre-Ship bound to Dead-man's Isle. 
Note 28. 



Dolph Heyliger. 71 

before the fire. It was some time, however, before Dolph 
could close his eyes. He lay contemplating the strange 
scene before him : the wild woods and rocks around ; the 
fire throwing fitful gleams on the faces of the sleeping 
savages, and the Heer Antony, too, who so singularly, 
yet vaguely reminded him of the nightly visitant to the 
haunted house. Now and then he heard the cry of some 
animal from the forest ; or the hooting of the owl ; or the 
notes of the whip-poor-will, which seemed to abound among 
these solitudes ; or the splash of a sturgeon, leaping out of 
the river, and falling back full length on its placid surface. 
He contrasted all this with his accustomed nest in the gar- 
ret-room of the doctor's mansion ; where the only sounds 
at night were the church-clock telling the hour ; the drowsy 
voice of the watchman, drawling out all was well ; the deep 
snoring of the doctor's clubbed nose from below stairs ; or 
the cautious labors of some carpenter rat gnawing in the 
wainscot. His thoughts then wandered to his poor old 
mother : what would she think of his mysterious disap- 
pearance — what anxiety and distress would she not suf- 
fer .'' This thought would continually intrude itself, to mar 
his present enjoyment. It brought with it a feeling of pain 
and compunction, and he fell asleep with the tears yet 
standing in his eyes. 

Were this a mere tale of fancy, here would be a fine 
opportunity for weaving in strange adventures among these 
wild mountains and roving hunters ; and, after involving 
my hero in a variety of perils and difficulties, rescuing him 
from them all by some miraculous contrivance : but as this 
is absolutely a true story, I must content myself with sim- 
ple facts, and keep to probabilities. 

At an early hour of the next day, therefore, after a 
hearty morning's meal, the encampment broke up, and 



yi Dolpli Heyliger. 

our adventurers embarked in the pinnace of Antony 
Vander Heyden. There being no wind for the sails, the 
Indians rowed her gently along, keeping time to a kind of 
chant of one of the white men. The day was serene and 
beautiful ; the river without a wave ; and as the vessel 
cleft the glassy water, it left a long, undulating track 
behind. The crows, who had scented the hunters' ban- 
quet, were already gathering and hovering in the air, just 
where a column of thin, blue smoke, rising from among 
the trees, showed the place of their last night's quarters. 
As they coasted along the bases of the mountains, the 
Heer Antony pointed out to Dolph a bald eagle, the sov- 
ereign of these regions, who sat perched on a dry tree 
that projected over the river ; and, with eye turned up- 
wards, seemed to be drinking in the splendor of the 
morning sun. Their approach disturbed the monarch's 
meditations. He first spread one wing, and then the 
other ; balanced himself for a moment ; and then, quitting 
his perch with dignified composure, wheeled slowly over 
their heads. Dolph snatched up a gun, and sent a whis- 
tling ball after him, that cut some of the feathers from 
his wing ; the report of the gun leaped sharply from rock 
to rock and awakened a thousand echoes ; but the monarch 
of the air sailed calmly on, ascending higher and higher, 
and wheeling widely as he ascended, soaring up the green 
bosom of the woody mountain, until he disappeared over 
the brow of a beetling precipice. Dolph felt in a manner 
rebuked by this proud tranquillity, and almost reproached 
himself for having so wantonly insulted this majestic bird. 
Heer Antony told him, laughing, to remember that he 
was not yet out of the territories of the lord of the Dun- 
derberg ; and an old Indian shook his head, and observed 
that there was bad luck in killing an eagle ; the hunter, 



Dolph Heyliger. 



13 



on the contrary, should always leave him a portion of 
his spoils. 

Nothing, however, occurred to molest them on their 
voyage. They passed pleasantly through magnificent and 
lonely scenes, until they came to where Pollopol's Island 
lay, like a floating bower, at the extremity of the high- 




"The Highlands, Vast and Cra.gged 



lands. Here they landed, until the heat of the day should 
abate, or a breeze spring up, that might supersede the labor 
of the oar. Some prepared the mid-day meal, while others 
reposed under the shade of the trees in luxurious summer 
indolence, looking drowsily forth upon the beauty of the 
scene. On the one side were the highlands, vast and 
cragged, feathered to the top with forests, and throwing 



74 Dolph Heyliger. 

their shadows on the glassy water that dimpled at their 
feet. On the other side was a wide expanse of the river, 
like a broad lake, with long sunny reaches, and green head- 
lands ; and the distant line of Shawungunk mountains wav- 
ing along a clear horizon, or checkered by a fleecy cloud. 

But I forbear to dwell on the particulars of their cruise 
along the river; this vagrant, amphibious life, careering 
across silver sheets of water ; coasting wild woodland 
shores ; banqueting on shady promontories, with the 
spreading tree overhead, the river curling its light foam 
to one's feet, and distant mountain, and rock, and tree, 
and snowy cloud, and deep-blue sky, all mingling in sum- 
mer beauty before one ; all this, though never cloying in 
the enjoyment, would be but tedious in narration. 

When encamped by the water-side, some of the party 
would go into the woods and hunt ; others would fish : 
sometimes they would amuse themselves by shooting at 
a mark, by leaping, by running, by wrestling ; and Dolph 
gained great favor in the eyes of Antony Vander Heyden, 
by his skill and adroitness in all these exercises ; which 
the Heer considered as the highest of manly accomplish- 
ments. 

Thus did they coast joUily on, choosing only the pleasant 
hours for voyaging ; sometimes in the cool morning dawn, 
sometimes in the sober evening twilight, and sometimes 
when the moonshine spangled the crisp curling waves that 
whispered along the sides of their little bark. Never had 
Dolph felt so completely in his element ; never had he 
met with anything so completely to his taste as this wild, 
hap-hazard life. He was the very man to second Antony 
Vander Heyden in his rambling humors, and gained con- 
tinually on his affections. The heart of the old bush- 

Shawungunk : pronounced Shon-qdin. 



Dolph Heyliger. y^ 

whacker yearned toward the young man, who seemed 
thus growing up in his own likeness; and as they ap- 
proached to the end of their voyage, he could not help 
inquiring a little into his history. Dolph frankly told him 
his course of life, his severe medical studies, his little pro- 
ficiency, and his very dubious prospects. The Heer was 
shocked to find that such amazing talents and accomplish- 
ments were to be cramped and buried under a doctor's 
wig. He had a sovereign contempt for the healing art, 
having never had any other physician than the butcher. 
He bore a mortal grudge to all kinds of study also, ever 
since he had been flogged about an unintelligible book 
when he was a boy. But to think that a young fellow 
like Dolph, of such wonderful abilities, who could shoot, 
fish, run, jump, ride, and wrestle, should be obliged to roll 
pills and administer juleps for a living — 'twas monstrous! 
He told Dolph never to despair, but to " throw physic to 
the dogs " ; for a young fellow of his prodigious talents 
could never fail to make his way. "As you seem to have 
no acquaintance in Albany," said Heer Antony, "you shall 
go home with me, and remain under my roof until you can 
look about you ; and in the meantime we can take an occa- 
sional bout at shooting and fishing, for it is a pity such 
talents should lie idle." 

Dolph, who was at the mercy of chance, was not hard 
to be persuaded. Indeed, on turning over matters in his 
mind, which he did very sagely and deliberately, he could 
not but think that Antony Vander Heyden was, " somehow 
or other," connected with the story of the Haunted House : 
that the misadventure in the highlands, which had thrown 
them so strangely together, was, "somehow or other," to 
work out something good : in short, there is nothing so 

Bout : Note 29. 



76 



Dolph Heyliger. 



convenient as this " somehow or other" way of accommo- 
dating one's self to circumstances ; it is the main-stay of a 
heedless actor, a tardy reasoner, like Dolph Heyliger ; and 
he who can, in this loose, easy way, link foregone evil to 
anticipated good, possesses a secret of happiness almost 
equal to the philosopher's stone. 

On their arrival at Albany, the sight of Dolph's com- 
panion seemed to cause universal satisfaction. Many were 
the greetings at the river side, and the salutations in the 




The Vander Heyden Mansion. Albany. 



streets : the dogs bounded before him ; the boys whooped 
as he passed ; everybody seemed to know Antony Vander 
Heyden. Dolph followed on in silence, admiring the neat- 
ness of this worthy burgh ; for in those days Albany was 
in all its glory, and inhabited almost exclusively by the 
descendants of the original Dutch settlers, not having as 
yet been discovered and colonized by the restless people 
of New England. Everything was quiet and orderly ; 

Philosopher'' s stone : supposed to have the power of turning common met- 
als into gold. 



Dolph Heyliger. ^y 

everything was conducted calmly and leisurely ; no hurry, 
no bustle, no struggling and scrambling for existence. 
The grass grew about the unpaved streets, and relieved 
the eye by its refreshing verdure. Tall sycamores or pen- 
dent willows shaded the houses, with caterpillars swinging, 
in long silken strings, from their branches, or moths, flut- 
tering about like coxcombs, in joy at their gay transforma- 
tion. The houses were built in the old Dutch style, with 
the gable-ends towards the street. The thrifty housewife 
was seated on a bench before her door, in close crimped 
cap, bright flowered gown, and white apron, busily em- 
ployed in knitting. The husband smoked his pipe on the 
opposite bench, and the little pet negro girl, seated on the 
step at her mistress' feet, was industriously plying her nee- 
dle. The swallows sj^orted about the eaves, or skimmed 
along the streets, and brought back some rich booty for 
their clamorous young ; and the little housekeeping wren 
flew in and out of a liliputian house, or an old hat nailed 
against the wall. The cows were coming home, lowing 
through the streets, to be milked at their owner's door ; 
and if, perchance, there were any loiterers, some negro 
urchin, with a long goad, was gently urging them home- 
wards. 

As Dolph's companion passed on, he received a tran- 
quil nod from the burghers, and a friendly word from their 
wives ; all calling him familiarly by the name of Antony ; 
for it was the custom in this stronghold of the patriarchs, 
where they had all grown up together from childhood, to 
call each other by the Christian name. The Heer did 
not pause to have his usual jokes with them, for he was 
impatient to reach his home. At length they arrived at 

Liliptitians : the tiny people. Described by Jonathan Swift in Gulliver's 
Travels. 



78 



Dolph Heyliger. 



his mansion. It was of some magnitude, in the Dutch 
style, with large iron figures on the gables, that gave the 
date of its erection, and showed that it had been built in 
the earliest times of the settlement. 

The news of Heer Antony's arrival had preceded him ; 
and the whole household was on the look-out. A crew 
of negroes, large and small, had collected in front of the 
house to receive him. The old, white-headed ones, who had 




Vander Heyden and Dolph arrive at Albany. 



grown gray in his service, grinned for joy and made many 
awkward bows and grimaces, and the little ones capered 
about his knees. But the most happy being in the house- 
hold was a little, plump, blooming lass, his only child, and 
the darling of his heart. She came bounding out of the 
house ; but the sight of a strange young man with her 
father called up, for a moment, all the bashfulness of a 
homebred damsel. Dolph gazed at her with wonder and 

In the Dutch style : Note 30. 



Dolph Heyliger. 79 

delight ; never had he seen, as he thought, anything so 
comely in the shape of woman. She was dressed in the 
good old Dutch taste, with long stays, and full short petti- 
coats. Her hair, turned up under a small round cap, dis- 
played the fairness of her forehead ; she had fine, blue, 
laughing eyes, a trim, slender waist, in a word, she was a 
little Dutch divinity ; and Dolph, who never stopt half-way 
in a new impulse, fell desperately in love with her. 

Dolph was now ushered into the house with a hearty 
welcome. In the interior was a mingled display of Heer 
Antony's taste and habits, and of the opulence of his 
predecessors. The chambers were furnished with good old 
mahogany ; the beaufets and cupboards glittered with em- 
bossed silver and painted china. Over the parlor fireplace 
was, as usual, the family coat-of-arms painted and framed ; 
above which was a long duck fowling-piece, flanked by an 
Indian pouch and a powder-horn. The room was decorated 
with many Indian articles, such as pipes of peace, toma- 
hawks, scalping-knives, hunting-pouches, and belts of wam- 
pum ; and there were various kinds of fishing tackle, and 
two or three fowling-pieces in the corners. The house- 
hold affairs seemed to be conducted, in some measure, 
after the master's humors ; corrected, perhaps, by a little 
quiet management of the daughter's. There was a great 
degree of patriarchal simpHcity, and good-humored indul- 
gence. The negroes came into the room without being 
called, merely to look at their master, and hear of his 
adventures; they would stand listening at the door until 
he had finished a story, and then go off on a broad grin, 
to repeat it in the kitchen. A couple of pet negro chil- 
dren were playing about the floor with the dogs, and shar- 
ing with them their bread and butter. All the domestics 

Beaufets: (French) sideboards. Now written " buffets." 



8o Dolph Heyliger. 

looked hearty and happy ; and when the table was set for 
the evening repast, the variety and abundance of good 
household luxuries bore testimony to the open-handed lib- 
erality of the Heer, and the notable housewifery of his 
daughter. 

In the evening there dropped in several of the worthies 
of the place, the Van Renssellaers, and the Gansevoorts, 
and the Rosebooms, and others of Antony Vander Hey- 
den's intimates, to hear an account of his expedition ; for 
he was the Sindbad of Albany, and his exploits and ad- 
ventures were favorite topics of conversation among the 
inhabitants. While these sat gossiping together about the 
door of the hall, and telling long twilight stories, Dolph 
was cosily seated, entertaining the daughter on a window- 
bench. He had already got on intimate terms ; for those 
were not times of false reserve and idle ceremony ; and, 
besides, there is something wonderfully propitious to a 
lover's suit, in the delightful dusk of a long summer even- 
ing ; it gives courage to the most timid tongue, and hides 
the blushes of the bashful. The stars alone twinkled 
brightly ; and now and then a fire-fly streamed his tran- 
sient light before the window, or, wandering into the room, 
flew gleaming about the ceiling. 

What Dolph whispered in her ear, that long summer 
evening, it is impossible to say : his words were so low and 
indistinct, that they never reached the ear of the historian. 
It is probable, however, that they were to the purpose ; 
for he had a natural talent at pleasing the sex. In the 
meantime, the visitors, one by one, departed ; Antony 
Vander Heyden, who had fairly talked himself silent, sat 
nodding alone in his chair by the door, when he was sud- 
denly aroused by a hearty salute with which Dolph Heyli- 

Sindbad : the story of Sindbad the sailor in the Arabia^i Nights. 



Dolph Heyliger. 8i 

ger had unguardedly rounded off one of his periods, and 
which echoed through the still chamber like the report of 
a pistol. The Heer started up, rubbed his eyes, called for 
lights, and observed, that it was high time to go to bed ; 
though, on parting for the night, he squeezed Dolph heartily 
by the hand, looked kindly in his face, and shook his head 
knowingly ; for the Heer well remembered what he him- 
self had been at the youngster's age. 

The chamber in which our hero was lodged was spa- 
cious, and panelled with oak. It was furnished with 
clothes-presses, and mighty chests of drawers, well waxed, 
and glittering with brass ornaments. These contained 
ample stock of family linen ; for the Dutch housewives had 
always a laudable pride in showing off their household 
treasures to strangers. 

Dolph's mind, however, was too full to take particular 
note of the objects around him; yet he could not help 
continually comparing the free, open-hearted cheeriness 
of this establishment with the starveling, sordid, joyless 
housekeeping at Doctor Knipperhausen's. Still, some- 
thing marred the enjoyment; the idea that he must take 
leave of his hearty host and pretty hostess and cast him- 
self once more adrift upon the world. To linger here 
would be folly ; he should only get deeper in love ; and 
for a poor varlet like himself to aspire to the daughter of 
the great Heer Vander Heyden — it was madness to think 
of such a thing! The very kindness that the girl had 
shown towards him prompted him, on reflection, to hasten 
his departure ; it would be a poor return for the frank 
hospitality of his host to entangle his daughter's heart 
in an injudicious attachment. In a word, Dolph was like 
many other young reasoners, of exceeding good hearts and 

Household treasures : Note 31, 



82 Dolph Heyliger. 

giddy heads, who think after they act, and act differently 
from what they think ; who make excellent determinations 
overnight and forget to keep them the next morning. 

"This is a fine conclusion, truly, of my voyage," said 
he, as he almost buried himself in a sumptuous feather- 
bed, and drew the fresh white sheets up to his chin. 
" Here am I, instead of finding a bag of money to carry 
home, launched in a strange place with scarcely a stiver in 
my pocket; and, what is worse, have jumped ashore up 
to my very ears in love into the bargain. However," 
added he, after some pause, stretching himself and turn- 
ing himself in bed, "I'm in good quarters for the present, 
at least; so I'll e'en enjoy the present moment, and let 
the next take care of itself ; I dare say all will work out, 
'somehow or other,' for the best." 

As he said these words, he reached out his hand to 
extinguish the candle, when he was suddenly struck with 
astonishment and dismay, for he thought he beheld the 
phantom of the haunted house staring on him from a 
dusky part of the chamber. A second look reassured him, 
as he perceived that what he had taken for the spectre 
was, in fact, nothing but a Flemish portrait, hanging in a 
shadowy corner just behind a clothes-press. It was, how- 
ever, the precise representation of his nightly visitor. The 
same cloak and belted jerkin. The same grizzled beard 
and iixed eye, the same broad slouched hat, with a feather 
hanging over one side. Dolph now called to mind the 
resemblance he had frequently remarked between his 
host and the old man of the haunted house ; and was fully 
convinced they were in some way connected, and that 

Stiver : a Dutch coin worth about two cents. 
The phantom of the haunted house : Note 32. 
Jerkin : jacket, or short coat. 



Dolph Heyliger. 



83 



some especial destiny had governed his voyage. He lay 
gazing on the portrait with almost as much awe as he had 
gazed on the ghostly original, until the shrill house-clock 
warned him of the lateness of the hour. He put out the 
light ; but remained for a long time turning over these 
curious circumstances and coincidences in his mind, until 
he fell asleep. His dreams partook of the nature of his 
waking thoughts. He fancied that he still lay gazing on 
the picture, until, by degrees, it became animated ; that 
the figure descended from the wall and walked out of the 
room ; that he followed it and found himself by the well, 
to which the old man pointed, smiled on him, and disap- 
peared. 

In the morning when he waked, he found his host stand- 
ing by his bedside, who gave 
him a hearty morning's saluta- 
tion, and asked him how he 
had slept. Dolph answered 
cheerily ; but took occasion to 
inquire about the portrait that 
hung against the wall. *' Ah," 
said Heer Antony, "that's a 
portrait of old Kilhan Vander 
Spiegel, once a burgomaster 
of Amsterdam, who, on some 
popular troubles abandoned 
Holland, and came over to the 
province during the govern- 
ment of Peter Stuyvesant. 
He was my ancestor by the 
mother's side, and an old 
miserly curmudgeon he was. When the EngHsh took pos- 

Peter Siuyvesani : Note 33. 




Peter Siuyvesant. 

After the portrait from life in the pos- 
session of the New York Historical 
Society. 



84 Dolph Heyliger. 

session of New Amsterdam in 1664, he retired into the coun- 
try. He fell into a melancholy, apprehending that his 
wealth would be taken from him and he come to beggary. 
He turned all his property into cash, and used to hide it 
away. He was for a year or two concealed in various 
places, fancying himself sought after by the English, to 
strip him of his wealth ; and finally was found dead in 
his bed one morning, without any one being able to dis- 
cover where he had concealed the greater part of his 
money." 

When his host had left the room, Dolph remained for 
some time lost in thought. His whole mind was occupied 
by what he had heard. Vander Spiegel was his mother's 
family name ; and he recollected to have heard her speak 
of this very Killian Vander Spiegel as one of her ances- 
tors. He had heard her say, too, that her father was 
Killian's rightful heir, only that the old man died without 
leaving anything to be inherited. It now appeared that 
Heer Antony was likewise a descendant, and perhaps an 
heir also, of this poor rich man ; and that thus the Hey- 
ligers and the Vander Heydens were remotely connected. 
" What," thought he, " if, after all, this is the interpreta- 
tion of my dream, that this is the way I am to make my 
fortune by this voyage to Albany, and that I am to find 
the old man's hidden wealth in the bottom of that well ? 
But what an odd, round-about mode of communicating the 
matter ! Why the plague could not the old goblin have 
told me about the well at once, without sending me all the 
way to Albany to hear a story that was to send me all 
the way back again ? " 

These thoughts passed through his mind while he was 
dressing. He descended the stairs, full of perplexity, 
when the bright face of Marie Vander Heyden suddenly 



Dolph Heyliger. 85 

beamed in smiles upon him, and seemed to give him a 
clew to the whole mystery. "After all," thought he, "the 
old goblin is in the right. If I am to get his wealth, 
he means that I shall marry his pretty descendant ; thus 
both branches of the family will be again united, and the 
property go on in the proper channel." 

No sooner did this idea enter his head, than it carried 
conviction with it. He was now all impatience to hurry 
back and secure the treasure, which, he did not doubt, lay 
at the bottom of the well, and which he feared every 
moment might be discovered by some other person. 
" Who knows," thought he, " but this night-walking old 
fellow of the haunted house may be in the habit of haunt- 
ing every visitor, and may give a hint to some shrewder 
fellow than myself, who will take a shorter cut to the well 
than by the way of Albany ? " He wished a thousand 
times that the babbling old ghost was laid in the Red Sea, 
and his rambling portrait with him. He was in a perfect 
fever to depart. Two or three days elapsed before any 
opportunity presented for returning down the river. They 
were ages to Dolph, notwithstanding that he was basking 
in the smiles of the pretty Marie, and daily getting more 
and more enamoured. 

At length the very sloop from which he had been 
knocked overboard, prepared to make sail. Dolph made 
an awkward apology to his host for his sudden departure. 
Antony Vander Heyden was sorely astonished. He had 
concerted half-a-dozen excursions into the wilderness ; 
and his Indians were actually preparing for a grand expe- 
dition to one of the lakes. He took Dolph aside, and 
exerted his eloquence to get him to abandon all thoughts 
of business, and to remain with him, but in vain ; and he 
at length gave up the attempt, observing, " that it was a 



86 Dolph Heyliger. 

thousand pities so fine a young man should throw himself 
away." Heer Antony, however, gave him a hearty shake 
by the hand at parting, with a favorite fowling-piece, and 
an invitation to come to his house whenever he revisited 
Albany. The pretty little Marie said nothing ; but as he 
gave her a farewell kiss, her dimpled cheek turned pale, 
and a tear stood in her eye. 

Dolph sprang lightly on board of the vessel. They 
hoisted sail ; the wind was fair ; they soon lost sight of 
Albany, its green hills, and embowered islands. They 
were wafted gayly past the Kaatskill mountains, whose 
fairy heights were bright and cloudless. They passed 
prosperously through the highlands, without any molesta- 
tion from the Dunderberg gobhn and his crew; they swept 
on across Haverstraw Bay, and by Croton Point, and 
through the Tappaan Zee, and under the Palisadoes, until, 
in the afternoon of the third day, they saw the promontory 
of Hoboken, hanging like a cloud in the air ; and, shortly 
after, the roofs of the Manhattoes rising out of the water. 

Dolph's first care was to repair to his mother's house ; 
for he was continually goaded by the idea of the uneasiness 
she must experience on his account. He was puzzling his 
brains, as he went along, to think how he should account 
for his absence, without betraying the secrets of the 
haunted house. In the midst of these cogitations, he en- 
tered the street in which his mother's house was situated, 
when he was thunderstruck at beholding it a heap of 
ruins. 

There had evidently been a great fire, which had de- 
stroyed several large houses, and the humble dwelling of 
poor Dame Heyliger had been involved in the conflagra- 
tion. The walls were not so completely destroyed but that 

Fairy heights : Note 34, 




The Kaatskills. 



88 Dolph Heyliger. 

Dolph could distinguish some traces of the scene of his 
childhood. The fireplace, about which he had often played, 
still remained, ornamented with Dutch tiles, illustrating 
passages in Bible history, on which he had many a time 
gazed with admiration. Among the rubbish lay the wreck 
of the good dame's elbow-chair, from which she had given 
him so many a wholesome precept ; and hard by it was the 
family Bible, with brass clasps; now, alas! reduced almost 
to a cinder. 

For a moment Dolph was overcome by this dismal sight, 
for he was seized with the fear that his mother had per- 
ished in the flames. He was relieved, however, from this 
horrible apprehension, by one of the neighbors who hap- 
pened to come by, and informed him that his mother was 
yet alive. 

The good woman had, indeed, lost everything by this 
unlooked for calamity ; for the populace had been so in- 
tent upon saving the fine furniture of her rich neighbors, 
that the little tenement, and the little all of poor Dame 
Heyliger, had been suffered to consume without interrup- 
tion ; nay, had it not been for the gallant assistance of her 
old crony, Peter de Groodt, the worthy dame and her cat 
might have shared the fate of their habitation. 

As it was, she had been overcome with fright and afflic- 
tion, and lay ill in body, and sick at heart. The public, 
however, had showed her its wonted kindness. The furni- 
ture of her rich neighbors being, as far as possible, rescued 
from the flames ; themselves duly and ceremoniously visited 
and condoled with on the injury of their property, and 
their ladies commiserated on the agitation of their nerves ; 
the public, at length, began to recollect something about 
poor Dame Heyliger. She forthwith became again a sub- 
ject of universal sympathy; everybody pitied her more 



Dolph Heyliger. 89 

than ever; and if pity could but have been coined into 
cash — good Lord ! how rich she would have been ! 

It was now determined, in good earnest, that something 
ought to be done for her without delay. The Dominie, 
therefore, put up prayers for her on Sunday, in which all 
the congregation joined most heartily. Even Cobus Groes- 
beek, the alderman, and Mynheer Milledollar, the great 
Dutch merchant, stood up in their pews, and did not spare 
their voices on the occasion ; and it was thought the pray- 
ers of such great men could not but have their due weight. 
Doctor Knipperhausen, too, visited her professionally, and 
gave her abundance of advice gratis, and was universally 
lauded for his charity. As to her old friend, Peter de 
Groodt, he was a poor man, whose pity, and prayers, and 
advice could be of but little avail, so he gave her all that 
was in his power — he gave her shelter. 

To the humble dwelhng of Peter de Groodt, then, did 
Dolph turn his steps. On his way thither, he recalled all 
the tenderness and kindness of his simple-hearted parent, 
her indulgence of his errors, her blindness to his faults ; 
and then he bethought himself of his own idle, harum- 
scarum life. "I've been a sad scapegrace," said Dolph, 
shaking his head sorrowfully. " I've been a complete sink- 
pocket, that's the truth of it ! — But," added he, briskly, 
and clasping his hands, "only let her live — only let her 
live — and I'll show myself indeed a son ! " 

As Dolph approached the house, he met Peter de Groodt 
coming out of it. The old man started back aghast, doubt- 
ing whether it was not a ghost that stood before him. It 
being bright daylight, however, Peter soon plucked up 
heart, satisfied that no ghost dare show his face in such 
clear sunshine. Dolph now learned from the worthy sex- 

Sink-pocket : spendthrift. 



go Dolph Heyliger. 

ton the consternation and rumor to which his mysterious 
disappearance had given rise. It had been universally 
believed that he had been spirited away by those hobgoblin 
gentry that infested the haunted house ; and old Abraham 
Vandozer, who lived by the great buttonwood-trees, near 
the three-mile stone, affirmed, that he had heard a terrible 
noise in the air, as he was going home late at night, which 
seemed just as if a flock of wild geese were overhead, 
passing off towards the northward. The haunted house 
was, in consequence, looked upon with ten times more awe 
than ever ; nobody would venture to pass a night in it for 
the world, and even the doctor had ceased to make his 
expeditions to it in the daytime. 

It required some preparation before Dolph's return could 
be made known to his mother, the poor soul having bewailed 
him as lost ; and her spirits having been sorely broken down 
by a number of comforters, who daily cheered her with 
stories of ghosts, and of people carried away by the devil. 
He found her confined to her bed, with the other member 
of the Heyliger family, the good dame's cat, purring 
beside her, but sadly singed, and utterly despoiled of those 
whiskers which were the glory of her physiognomy. The 
poor woman threw her arms about Dolph's neck : " My 
boy ! my boy ! art thou still alive .'* " For a time she 
seemed to have forgotten all her losses and troubles in her 
joy at his return. Even the sage grimalkin showed indu- 
bitable signs of joy, at the return of the youngster. She 
saw, perhaps, that they were a forlorn and undone family, 
and felt a touch of that kindliness which fellow-sufferers 
only know. But, in truth, cats are a slandered people ; 
they have more affection in them than the world commonly 
gives them credit for. 

The good dame's eyes glistened as she saw one being, at] 



Dolph Heyliger. 91 

least, beside herself, rejoiced at her son's return. " Tib 
knows thee ! poor dumb beast ! " said she, smoothing down 
the mottled coat of her favorite ; then recollecting herself, 
with a melancholy shake of the head, " Ah, my poor 
Dolph!" exclaimed she, "thy mother can help thee no 
longer. She (!an no longer help herself! What will 
become of thee, my poor boy ! " 

"Mother," said Dolph, "don't talk in that strain; I've 
been too long a charge upon you ; it's now my part to take 
care of you in your old days. Come ! be of good heart ! 
you, and I, and Tib, will all see better days. I'm here, 
you see, young, and sound, and hearty ; then don't let us 
despair ; I dare say things will all, somehow or other, turn 
out for the best." 

While this scene was going on with the Heyliger family, 
the news was carried to Doctor Knipperhausen, of the safe 
return of his disciple. The little doctor scarcely knew 
whether to rejoice or be sorry at the tidings. He was 
happy at having the foul reports which had prevailed con- 
cerning his country mansion thus disproved; but he grieved 
at having his disciple, of whom he had supposed himself 
fairly disencumbered, thus drifting back, a heavy charge 
upon his hands. While balancing between these two feel- 
ings, he was determined by the counsels of Frau Ilsy, who 
advised him to take advantage of the truant absence of the 
youngster, and shut the door upon him forever. 

At the hour of bedtime, therefore, when it was supposed 
the recreant disciple would seek his old quarters, every- 
thing was prepared for his reception. Dolph, having 
talked his mother into a state of tranquillity, sought the 
mansion of his quondam master, and raised the knocker 
with a faltering hand. Scarcely, however, had it given a 

Quondam: (Latin) former. 



92 Dolph Heyliger. 

dubious rap, when the doctor's head, in a red nightcap, 
popped out of one window, and the housekeeper's, in a 
white nightcap, out of another. He was now greeted with 
a tremendous volley of hard names and hard language, 
mingled with invaluable pieces of advice, such as are 
seldom ventured to be given excepting to a friend in 
distress, or a culprit at the bar. In a few moments not 
a window in the street but had its particular nightcap, 
listening to the shrill treble of Frau Ilsy, and the guttural 
croaking of Dr. Knipperhausen ; and the word went from 
window to window, " Ah ! here's Dolph Heyliger come 
back, and at his old pranks again." In short, poor Dolph 
found he was likely to get nothing from the doctor but 
good advice ; a commodity so abundant as even to be 
thrown out of a window ; so he was fain to beat a retreat, 
and take up his quarters for the night under the lowly 
roof of honest Peter de Groodt. 

The next morning, bright and early, Dolph was out at 
the haunted house. Everything looked just as he had 
left it. The fields were grass grown and matted and 
appeared as if nobody had traversed them since his depar- 
ture. With palpitating heart, he hastened to the well. 
He looked down into it, and saw that it was of great depth, 
with water at the bottom. He had provided himself with 
a strong line, such as the fishermen use on the banks of 
Newfoundland. At the end was a heavy plummet and a 
large fish-hook. With this he began to sound the bottom 
of the well, and to angle about in the water. The water 
was of some depth ; there was also much rubbish, stones 
from the top having fallen in. Several times his hook got 
entangled, and he came near breaking his line. Now and 
then, too, he hauled up mere trash, such as the skull of a 
horse, an iron hoop, and a shattered iron-bound bucket. 



Dolph Heyliger. 93 

He had now been several hours employed without finding 
anything to repay his trouble, or to encourage him to pro- 
ceed. He began to think himself a great fool, to be thus 
decoyed into a wild-goose chase by mere dreams, and was 
on the point of throwing line and all into the well, and 
giving up all further angling. 

" One more cast of the line," said he, "and that shall be 
the last." As he sounded, he felt the plummet slip, as it 
were, through the interstices of loose stones ; and as he 
drew back the line, he felt that the hook had taken hold of 
something heavy. He had to manage his line with great 
caution, lest it should be broken by the strain upon it. By 
degrees, the rubbish which lay upon the article he had 
hooked gave way ; he drew it to the surface of the water, 
and what was his rapture at seeing something like silver 
glittering at the end of his line ! Almost breathless with 
anxiety, he drew it up to the mouth of the well, surprised 
at its great weight, and fearing every instant that his hook 
would slip from its hold, and his prize tumble again to the 
bottom. At length he landed it safe beside the well. 
It was a great silver porringer, of ancient form, richly em- 
bossed, and with armorial bearings engraved on each side, 
similar to those over his mother's mantel-piece. The lid 
was fastened down by several twists of wire ; Dolph loos- 
ened them with a trembling hand, and on lifting the lid, 
behold ! the vessel was filled with broad golden pieces, of 
a coinage which he had never seen before ! It was evident 
he had Ht on the place where Killian Vander Spiegel had 
concealed his treasure. 

Fearful of being seen by some straggler, he cautiously 
retired, and buried his pot of money in a secret place. He 
now spread terrible stories about the haunted house, and 

Armorial bearings : figures of a coat-of-arms. 



94 Dolph Heyliger. 

deterred every one from approaching it, while he made 
frequent visits to it in stormy days, when no one was 
stirring in the neighboring fields ; though, to tell the truth, 
he did not care to venture there in the dark. For once in 
his life he was diligent and industrious, and followed up his 
new trade of angling with such perseverance and success, 
that in a little while he had hooked up wealth enough to 
make him, in those moderate days, a rich burgher for 
life. 

It would be tedious to detail minutely the rest of this 
story. To tell how he gradually managed to bring his 
property into use without exciting surprise and inquiry — 
how he satisfied all scruples with regard to retaining the 
property, and at the same time gratified his own feelings, ^ 
by marrying the pretty Marie Vander Heyden — and how 
he and Heer Antony had many a merry and roving expe- 
dition together. 

I must not omit to say, however, that Dolph took his 
mother home to live with him, and cherished her in her old 
days. The good dame, too, had the satisfaction of no 
longer hearing her son made the theme of censure ; on the 
contrary, he grew daily in public esteem ; everybody spoke 
well of him and his wines, and the lordliest burgomaster 
was never known to decline his invitation to dinner. 
Dolph often related, at his own table, the wicked pranks 
which had once been the adhorrence of the town ; but 
they were now considered excellent jokes, and the gravest 
dignitary was fain to hold his sides when listening to them. 
No one was more struck with Dolph's increasing merit, 
than his old master the doctor ; and so forgiving was 
Dolph, that he absolutely employed the doctor as his 
family physician, only taking care that his prescriptions 
should be always thrown out of the window. His mother 



Dolph Heyliger. 95 

had often her junto of old cronies to take a snug cup of 
tea with her in her comfortable little parlor ; and Peter de 
Groodt, as he sat by the fireside, with one of her grand- 
children on his knee, would many a time congratulate her 
upon her son turning out so great a man ; upon which the 
good old soul would wag her head with exultation, and ex- 
claim, " Ah, neighbor, neighbor ! did I not say that Dolph 
would one day or other hold up his head with the best of 
them ? " 

Thus did Dolph Heyhger go on, cheerily and prosper- 
ously, growing merrier as he grew older and wiser, and 
completely falsifying the old proverb about money got 
over the devil's back ; for he made good use of his wealth, 
and became a distinguished citizen, and a valuable member 
of the community. He was a great promoter of public in- 
stitutions, such as beef-steak societies and catch-clubs. He 
presided at all public dinners, and was the first that intro- 
duced turtle from the West Indies. He improved the breed 
of race-horses and game-cocks, and was so great a patron 
of modest merit, that any one who could sing a good song, 
or tell a good story, was sure to find a place at his table. 

He was a member, too, of the corporation, made several 
laws for the protection of game and oysters, and bequeathed 
to the board a large silver punch-bowl, made out of the 
identical porringer before mentioned, and which is in the 
possession of the corporation to this very day. 

Finally, he died, in a florid old age, of an apoplexy, at a 
corporation feast, and was buried with great honors in the 
yard of the little Dutch church in Garden-street, where 
his tombstone may still be seen, with a modest epitaph in 

Junto : (Spanish) an assembly. 

Over the deviPs back : " what is gotten over the devil's back is spent under 
his belly." 



96 



Dolph Heyliger. 



Dutch, by his friend Mynheer Justus Benson, an ancient 
and excellent poet of the province. 

The foregoing tale rests on better authority than most 
tales of the kind, as I have it at second hand from the lips 
of Dolph Heyliger himself. He never related it till towards 
the latter part of his life, and then in great confidence, (for 
he was very discreet,) to a few of his particular cronies at 
his own table, over a supernumerary bowl of punch ; and, 
strange as the hobgoblin parts of the story may seem, there 
never was a single doubt expressed on the subject by any 
of his guests. It may not be amiss, before concluding, to 
observe that, in addition to his other accomplishments, 
Dolph Heyliger was noted for being the ablest drawer of 
the long-bow in the whole province. 




Dutch Pleasure Wagon. 



xNOTES. 



Note i, p. i. IVeiv York. What is now called New York was once 
the home of the famous Iroquois Indians. 

In 1609, the great English navigator, Hendrick Hudson, in the ser- 
vice of the Dutch East India Company, came sailing up the Mohican 
River (now bearing Hudson's name), in quest of a northwest passage 
to China. He explored in his ship called the Half-Moon as far as the 
present site of Albany. (" Knicl^erbocker's History of New York," 
Book II., Chap, i.) 

Many Dutch trading-posts were soon set up along the river by the 
Dutch West India Company. These Dutch called their province New 
Netherland, and its chief city New Amsterdam, in memory of the prov- 
ince and its capital city far across the Atlantic. The most northern 
trading-post was called New Orange, in honor of the famous Prince of 
Orange of the old Netherlands. 

In 1664 the English forced the Dutch, then under the brave '■'■silver- 
legged'''' Peter Stuyvesant (cf. p. in), to surrender their settlements, 
declaring them to be theirs by right of 
discovery, through the Pilgrims in 1620, 
and even through the Cabots as far 
back as in 1497. 

The English took possession in the 
name of the Duke of York and Albany, 
afterward James II. In honor of this 
duke, New Netherland and New Amster- 
dam were renamed New York, and New 
Orange became Albany. 

Once only did the Dutch regain their 
power (1672-1674). Then the English 
again got control and held it until the 
close of the American Revolution. 

Note 2, p. i. Lord Cornbury. Of 
all the tyrannical English governors in 
the earlier times of the province of New 
York, not one, perhaps, was a bigger 
tyrant than Lord Cornbury. (1702- 1708.) 

Note 3, p. 2. little old city of the Manhattoes. The whole 
city then lay below the present Wall Street. The map facing page i 
may be helpful in emphasizing this "littleness." 

97 




Lord Cornbury. 



98 Notes. 

As an early specimen of Irving's taking humor, the following account 
of the founding of the city may be quoted from his '"Knickerbocker's 
History of New York (Book II., Chaps. 6-8). 

" The name most current at the present day, and which is likewise 
countenanced by the great historian, Vander Donck, is Manhattan, 
which is said to have originated in a custom among the squaws, in the 
early settlement, of wearing men's hats, as is still done among many 
tribes. ' Hence,' as we are told by an old governor who was somewhat 
of a wag, and flourished almost a century since, and paid a visit to the 
wits of Philadelphia, ' hence arose the appellation of Man-hat-on, first 
given to the Indians, and afterward to the island' — a stupid joke ! — 
but well enough for a governor. . . . 

" The name Manhattoes is also said to be derived from the great 
Indian spirit Manetho, who was supposed to make this island his fiivor- 
ite abode on account of its uncommon delights. For the Indian tradi- 
tions affirm that the bay was once a translucid lake, filled with silver 
and golden fish, in the midst of which lay this beautiful island, covered 
with every variety of fruits and flowers ; but that the sudden irruption 
of the Hudson laid waste these blissful scenes, and Manetho took his 
flight beyond the great waters of the Ontario. . . . 

'* Yet is there another name which I particularly delight in, as at 
once poetical, melodious, and significant, — and which we have on the 
authority of Master Juet, who in his account of the great Hudson, calls 
this Manna-hata — that is to say, the island of Manna — or, in other 
words, a land flowing with milk and honey." 

" To the pleasant island of Manna-hata, it was solemnly resolved that 
the seat of Empire should be removed from the green shores of Pa- 
vonia. This memorable migration took place on the first of May, and 
was long cited in tradition as tlie grand 7noving. The anniversary of 
it was piously observed among the 'sons of the pilgrims of Com- 
munipaw ' by turning their houses topsy-turvy and carrying all the 
furniture through the streets, in emblem of the swarming of the parent 
hive; and this is the real origin of the universal agitation and 'moving' 
by which this most restless of cities is literally turned out of doors on 
every May day." 

"As the little squadron from Communipaw drew near to the shores of 
Manna-hata, a sachem, at the head of the band of warriors, appeared to 
oppose their landing. Some of the most zealous of the pilgrims were 
for chastising this insolence with powder and ball, according to the 
approved mode of discoverers ; but the sage Oloffe Van Kortlandt gave 
them the significant sign of St. Nicholas, laying his finger beside his 
nose and winking hard with one eye ; whereupon his followers perceived 



Notes. 99 

that something sagacious was in the wind. He now addressed the 
Indians in the blandest terms ; and made such a temptmg display of 
beads, hawks' bells, and red blankets, that he was soon permitted to 
land, and a great land speculation ensued. And here let me give 
the true story of the original purchase of the site of this renowned' 
city, about which so much has been said and written. Some affirm 
that the first cost was but sixty guilders. The learned Dominie 
Heckwelder records a tradition that the Dutch discoverers bargained 
for only so much land as the hide of a bullock would cover ; but 
that they cut the hide in strips no thicker than a child's finger, so 
as to take in a large portion of land, and to take in the Indians into the 
bargain. This, however, is an old fable, which the worthy Dominie 
may have borrowed from antiquity. The true version is, that Oloffe 
Van Kortlandt bargained for just so much land as a man could 
cover with his nether garments. The terms being concl-uded, he pro- 
duced his friend. Mynheer Tenbroeck, as the man whose breeches were 
to be used in measurement. The simple savages, whose ideas of a 
man's nether garments had never expanded beyond the dimensions of 
a breechclout, stared with astonishment and dismay as they beheld this 
bulbous-bottomed burgher peeled like an onion, and breeches after 
breeches spread forth over the land, until they covered the actual site 
of this venerable city. . . . 

"The land being thus fairly purchased of the Indians, a stock- 
ade fort and trading-houses were forthwith erected on an eminence 
in front of the place where the good St. Nicholas had appeared in a 
vision to Oloffe the Dreamer ; and which was the identical place at 
present known as the Bowling Green." 

" Around this fort a progeny of little Dutch-built houses, with tiled 
roofs and weathercocks, soon sprang up, nestling themselves under its 
walls for protection, as a brood of half-fledged chickens nestle under 
the wings of the mother hen. The whole was surrounded by an inclos- 
ure of strong palisades, to guard against any sudden irruption of the 
savages. Outside of these extended the corn fields and cabbage 
gardens of the community, with here and there an attempt at a tobacco 
plantation ; all covering those tracts of country at present called Broad- 
way, Wall-street, Williams-street, and Pearl-street." 

Note 4, p. 5. Peter de Groodt. This name was borrowed from that 
given to the last of the Dutch dynasty, Peter Stuyvesant, after his sub- 
jugation of New Sweden by the capture of Fort Christian. " I must 
not omit to mention," says Irving in his "Knickerbocker's History," 
" that to this far-famed victory, Peter Stuyvesant was indebted for 
another of his many titles — for so hugely delighted were the honest 

L. J« 0. 



loo Notes. 

burghers with his achievements, that they unanimously honored him 
with the name of Pieter de Groodt, that is to say, Peter the Great ; or, 
as it was translated into English by the people of New Amsterdam, for 
the benefit of their New England visitors, Piet de pig — -an appellation 
which he maintained even unto the day of his death." " Knickerbocker's 
History of New York," VI., g. 

Note 5, p. 6. Varlet. This word has become degraded in its 
use : first, it meant merely a servant, then any inferior, then a low, 
mean person, a rascal ; here it is used in a good-humoured, half 
reproachful way. 

Note 6, p. 8. Dr. Knipperhaiisen reappears in a rather more favorable 
light in the story of W'olfert Webber., in the "Tales of a Traveller," 
Irving's next publication after " Bracebridge Hall." 

Note 7, p. 9. folio. Take one leaf of an ordinary newspaper 
and fold it once, and you will get a fairly good idea of the folio, 
with its two leaves and four pages. Fold it twice, and you have a quarto, 
with its four leaves and eight pages. An unabridged dictionary is a 
quarto volume. Fold the newspaper leaf three times and you have an 
octavo, with its eight leaves and sixteen pages. 

Note8, p. 10. mysterio7ts coinpoitnds . . . in tiie preparing and ad- 
fjiinistering of which . . . he aliaays consulted the stars. A reference 
to the practice of both Alchemy and Astrology. Both these arts 
are very ancient, but they reached their height during the Middle Ages. 

The Astrologers believed in a knowledge of the stars as a means of 
foretelling and influencing human events. Even to-day there are those 
who stand ready to extract money from the simple and superstitious by 
pretending to read their destinies in the stars — " casting their horo- 
scopes," as they call it. 

It is not surprising that the strange notions of these two arts, through 
the elements of magic and mystery peculiar to them both, should grad- 
ually become mixed ; so that the alchemists were sometimes supposed 
to get their knowledge by consulting the stars. 

Note 9, p. 14. boor. Another word degraded in meaning. From 
simply a countryman, a farmer (like the Soutli African Boers, 
burghers), hence one lacking the refinements of city life, it came to 
mean any uneducated or ill-mannered person. 

Note id, p- 15. umbrella. When Irving wrote " Bracebridge Hall " 
(1822), nnd)rellas were very common. But in 1705, about the time of 
this story, it is probable that even the noted Dr. Knipperhaiisen carried 
an umbrella only on state occasions. Indeed he may never have owned 
one; for we find that Jonas Hanway, born in 1712, was "the first 
man to walk the streets of London with an umbrella over his head, 



Notes. loi 

to protect his person from the rain." Umbrellas were known to the 
ancients, but it is somewhat surprising that they did not come into 
general use until after the middle of the i8th century. 

Note i i, p. 20. spleen. The ancients used to believe that the spleen 
was the seat of anger, just as the heart was the seat of the affections, and 
of the understanding. Hence arose the expressions, " to give vent to 
one's spleen," "to learn by heart," "to love with all one's heart." 

Note 12, p. 19. the Hartz Mountains. The Brocken, the highest 
of the Hartz Mountains, was supposed to be haunted by evil spirits. 
This old belief is shown by the names still clinging to several odd- 
shaped rocks, such as the Devil's Pulpit, the Witches' Altar, the 
Witches' Lake, and the like. According to the legend, once a year all 
the evil spirits in the world assemble on the Brocken to worship their 
master, the Devil. 

Note 13, p. 22. tJic Dutch dynasty. Wouter Van Twiller (1629), 
William Kieft (1634), and Peter Stuyvesant (1647-64), "the peaceful 
reign of Walter the Doubter, the fretful reign of William the Testy, and 
the chrivalric reign of Peter the Headstrong." (" Knickerbocker's His- 
tory of New York," VII. 13.) See p. in. 

Note 14, p. 22. Devil's Stepping-stones. Half-submerged, rocky 
islands which used to choke the channel of East River at Hell Gate. 
They have since been removed by blasting. They were so called 
because once, it is said, the Devil made his escape by them from Connect- 
icut to Long Island, across the Sound. " The conduct of the expedition 
(" The Great Oyster War," under William the Testy) was intrusted to 
a valiant Dutchman, who for strength of arm was named Stoffel Brim- 
kerhoff; that is, Stoffel the Head-breaker. This sturdy commander 
made good his march until he arrived in the neighborhood of Oyster 
Bay. Here he was encountered by a host of Yankee warriors, headed 
by Preserved Fish, and Habakkuk Nutter, and Return Strong, and 
Zerubbabel Fisk, and Determined Cock ; at the sound of whose names 
Stoffel Brimkerhoff verily believed the whole parliament of Praise-God 
Barebones had been let loose upon him. He soon found, however, 
that they were merely the " selectmen " of the settlement, armed with 
no weapon but the tongue, and disposed only to meet him on the field 
of argument. Stoffel had but one mode of arguing ; that was, with the 
cudgel. But he used it with such effect that he routed his antagonists, 
broke up the settlement, and would have driven the inhabitants into 
the sea, if they had not managed to escape across the Sound to the 
mainland by the Devil's Stepping-stones, which remain to this day 
monuments of the great Dutch victory over the Yankees." (" Knicker- 
bocker's History of New York," IV. 6.) 



I02 Notes. 

Note 15, p. 22. Governor Leisler. The year 1688 was marked in 
England by the downfall of James II. and Popery, followed by the 
accession of " good " William and Mary, and the triumph of Protes- 
tantism. The news of this change of government and religion, known 
as "The Glorious Revolution of 1688," was hailed in New York with 
joy by a majority of the inhabitants. Papists holding office were at 
once suspended. This gave rise to very bitter feelings, and terrible 
rumors were at once spread that the Papists were intending to take 
some fearful vengeance on the Protestants. This led the citizens to 
appoint a committee of safety, who voted to place the entire authority, 
civil and religious, in the hands of one man, until the new governor 
appointed by William should arrive. Their choice was Jacob Leisler, 
captain of one of the military companies of the city. One of his first 
acts was to seize \\-\& fort at the lower end of the city and strengthen it 
by a six-gunned battery. Hence the name. Battery, since given to this 
quarter of the city (see page 58). He was forced to adopt very severe 
measures, which won for him the title of " The Tyrant " from his 
enemies. The opposition to him constantly increased. At last the 
governor appointed by William arrived ; Leisler's enemies managed to 
poison his ear with false statements, leading him to believe that Leisler 
had usurped the power in defiance of the king. The " traitor," as he 
was now called, was at once dragged off to prison, tried, convicted of 
treason, and condemned to death. While standing on the scaffold, he 
said, " As a dying man I declare before God that what I have done was 
for King William and Queen Mary, the defence of the Protestant reli- 
gion, and the good of the country." He is one of the earliest pat- 
riots of America, endeavoring to found a government by the people 
and for the people. (F'or an interesting account of Leisler, see "In 
Leisler's Times," by Eldridge S. Brooks.) 

Note 16, p. 27. traiiip — tramp — tramp. How do these words 
add to the vividness of Irving's narrative ? It will be found good prac- 
tice for pupils to tell Dolph's experience in the haunted house in their 
own words without the book, and then to compare, for action, life, feel- 
ing, choice of words, etc., their versions with the original. 

Note 17, p. 29. an elderly man. Observe how skilfully Irving 
selects a few characteristics to complete the picture of this man — what 
are the most striking ? Let the pupil try his hand at a description of 
this apparition from memory. 

Note 18, p. yj. Spiking-devil (Spyt den Duyvel). When the val- 
iant Peter Stuyvesant (Pieter de Groodt) was summoned by the English 
to surrender his beloved city, " he called unto him his trusty Van Cor- 
lear (Antony the Trumpeter), who was his right-hand man in all times 



Notes. 



103 



of emergency. Him did he adjure to take his war-denouncing trumpet 
and, mounting his horse, to beat up the country night and day, sound- 
ing the alarm along the borders, . . . charging all to sling their powder 
horns, shoulder their fowling-pieces, and march merrily down to the 
Manhattoes. . . . 

" It was a dark and stormy night when the good Antony arrived at 
the creek (sagely denominated Haerlem river) which separates the 
island of Manna-hata from the mainland. The wind was high, the ele- 
ments were in an uproar, and no Charon could be found to ferry the 
adventurous sounder of brass across the water. For a short time he 
vapored like an impatient ghost upon the brink, and then bethinking 
himself of the urgency of his errand, he swore most valorously that he 
would swim across i?t spile of tJie devill (SjDyt den Duyvel) and dar- 
ingly plunged into the stream. Luckless Antony! Scarce had he 
buffeted half way over, when he was observed to struggle violently — 
instinctively he put his trumpet to his mouth, and giving a vehement 
blast — sank forever to the bottom! . . . The place, with the adjoining 
promontory, which projects into the Hudson, has been called Spyt deti 
Diiyvel ever since." ('• Knickerbocker's History of New York," 
VH. 10.) 

Note 19, p. 38. Tappaaii Zee. " In the early times of Olofle the 
Dreamer, a frontier post, a trading-post, called Fort Aurora, had been 
established on the upper waters of the Hudson, precisely on the site of 
the present venerable city of Albany, which at the time was considered 
at the very end of the habitable world. Now and then the ' com- 
pany's yacht, ' as it was called, was sent to the Fort with supplies, and 
to bring away the peltries which had been purchased of the Indians. 
It was like an expedition to the India.s, or the North Pole, and always 
made great talk in the settlement. Sometimes an adventurous burgher 
would accompany the expedition, to the great uneasiness of his friends ; 
but, on his return, had so many stories to tell of the storms and 
tempests on the Tappan Zee, of hobgoblins in the Highlands and at 
the Devil's Dans Kammer, and of all the other wonders and perils with 
which the river abounded in those early days, that he deterred the less 
adventurous inhabitants from following his example." (" Knicker- 
bocker's History of New York," III. 5.) 

Compare Peter Stuyvesant's voyage up the Hudson, beautifully 
described in the fourth chapter of the sixth book of " Knickerbocker's 
History of New York " : 

'' Wildness and savage majesty reigned on the borders of this mighty 
river — the hand of cultivation had not as yet laid low the dark forest, 
and tamed the features of the landscape — nor had the frequent sail of 



I04 Notes. 

commerce broken in upon the profound and awful solitude of ages. Here 
and there might be seen a rude wigwam pitched among the cliffs of the 
mountains, with the curling column of smoke mounting in the trans- 
parent atmosphere — but so loftily situated that the whoopings of the 
savage children, gamboling on the margin of the dizzy heights, fell 
almost as faintly on the ear as do the notes of the lark, when lost in the 
azure vault of heaven. Now and then, from the beetling brow of some 
precipice, the wild deer would look timidly down upon the splendid 
pageant as it passed below ; and then, tossing his antlers in the air, 
would bound away into the thickest of the forest. 

" Through such scenes did the stately vessel of Peter Stuyvesant pass. 
Now did they skirt the bases of the rocky heights of Jersey, which 
spring up like everlasting walls, reaching from the waves unto the 
heavens, and were fashioned, if tradition may be believed, in times long 
past, by the mighty spirit Manetho, to protect his favorite abodes from 
the unhallowed eyes of mortals. Now did they career it gayly across 
the vast expanse of Tappan Bay, whose wide-extended shores present 
a variety of delectable scenery — here the bold promontory, crowned 
with embowering trees, advancing into the bay — there the long wood- 
land slope, sweeping up from the shore in rich luxuriance, and termi- 
nating in the upland precipice — while at a distance a long waving line 
of rocky heights threw their gigantic shades across the water. Now 
would they pass where some modest little intervale opening among the 
stupendous scenes, yet retreating as it were for protection into the 
embraces of the neighboring mountains, displayed a rural paradise, 
fraught with sweet pastoral beauties ; the velvet-tufted lawn — the 
bushy copse — the tinkling rivulet, stealing through the fresh and vivid 
verdure — on whose banks were situated some little Indian village, or, 
peradventure, the rude cabin of some solitary hunter. 

"The different periods of the revolving day seemed each, with cunning 
magic, to diffuse a different charm over the scene." ... At sun- 
down, " the vast bosom of the Hudson was like an unruffled mirror, 
reflecting the golden splendor of the heavens ; excepting that now and 
then a bark canoe would steal across its surface, filled with painted sav- 
ages, whose gay feathers glared brightly, as perchance a lingering ray 
of the setting sun gleamed upon them from the western mountains. . . . 

" Now broke forth from the shores the notes of an innumerable variety 
of insects, which filled the air with a strange but not inharmonious con- 
cert — the mind, soothed into a hallowed melancholy, listened with a 
pensive stillness to catch and distinguish each sound that vaguely 
echoed from the shore — now and then startled perchance by the whoop 
of some straggling savage, or by the dreary howl of a wolf, stealing 
forth upon his nightly prowlings. 



Notes. 



105 



"Thus happily did they pursue their course until they entered 
upon those awful defiles, the Highlands, where it would seem that 
the gigantic Titans had erst waged their impious war with heaven, 
piling up cliffs on cliffs, and hurling vast masses of rock in wild confu- 
sion. . . . These in ancient days, before the Hudson poured its waters 
from the lakes, formed one vast prison, within whose rocky bosom the 
omnipotent Manetho confined the spirits who repined at his control. 
Here they groaned for many an age. At length the conquering Hud- 
son, in its career towards the ocean, burst open their prison house, 
rolling its tide triumphantly through the stupendous ruins." (*' Knick- 
erbocker's History of New York, VI. 4.) 

Note 20, p. 39. The passage beginning with the line " It was the latter 
part of a calm sultry day " together with that following, descriptive of 
the thunder-storm, are two of the finest of their kind in the English 
language. It would be wise to show how the effect of intense stillness 
and of the uproar and crash of the elements succeeding is produced by 
the nice choice and use of words. 

Note 21, p. 39. Ajtiony^s Nose, so named, it is said, from one An- 
tony the Trumpeter, whose nose was " of a very lusty size, strutting 
boldly from his countenance like a mountain." One day, journeying 
up the Hudson with Peter Stuyvesant, '' it happened that bright and 
early in the morning, the good Antony, having washed his burly 
visage, was leaning over the quarter railing of the galley, contemplat- 
ing it in the glassy wave below. Just at this moment the illustrious 
sun did dart one of his most potent beams full upon the refulgent 
nose of the sounder of brass — the reflection of which shot straight- 
way down, hissing hot, into the water, and killed a mighty sturgeon 
that was sporting beside the vessel! This huge monster, with infinite 
labor hoisted on board, furnished a luxurious repast to all the crew. . . . 

" When this astonishing miracle became known to Peter Stuyvesant 
he, as may well be supposed, marvelled exceedingly ; and as a monu- 
ment thereof, he gave the name of Antony's Nose to a stout promon- 
tory in the neighborhood — and it has continued to be called Antony's 
Nose ever since that time." (" Knickerbocker's History of New York," 
VI. 4. See note 18 on Spiking-devil.) 

Note 22, p. 50. wainptnn, Indian money. " This was nothing more 
nor less than strings of beads wrought out of claws, periwinkles, 
and other shell-fish, and called seawant or wampum. In an unlucky 
moment, William the Testy, seeing this money of easy production, 
conceived the project of making it the current coin of the province. It 
is true it had an intrinsic value among the Indians, who used it to orna- 
ment their robes and moccasons, but among the honest burghers it had 



io6 



Notes. 



no more intrinsic value than those rags which form the paper currency 
of modern days. This consideration, however, had no weight with 
William Kieft. He began by paying all the servants of the company, 
and all the debts of government, in strings of wampum. He sent 
emissaries to sweep the shores of Long Island, which was the Ophir of 




Wampum Belt. 



this modern Solomon, and abounded in shell-fish. These were trans- 
ported in loads to New Amsterdam, coined into Indian money, and 
launched into circulation. 

" And now, for a time, affairs went on swimmingly ; money became as 
plentiful as in the modern days of paper currency, and to use the popular 
phrase, 'a wonderful impulse was given to public prosperity.' Yankee 
traders poured into the province, buying every thing they could lay 
their hands on, and paying the worthy Dutchmen their own price — in 
Indian money. If the latter, however, attempted to pay the Yankees 
in the same coin for their tinware and wooden bowls, the case was 
altered ; nothing would do but Dutch guilders and such like ' metallic 
currency.' What was worse, the Yankees introduced an inferior kind 
of wampum made of oyster-shells, with which they deluged the prov- 
ince, carrying off in exchange all the silver and gold, the Dutch her- 
rings and Dutch cheeses : thus early did the knowing men of the east 
manifest their skill in bargaining the New-Amsterdammers out of the 
oyster, and leaving them the shell." (" Knickerbocker's History of 
New York," IV. 6.) 

Even the Dutchmen themselves found out their own mistake in the 
very next reign. "The measure of the valiant Peter which produced 
the greatest agitation in the community, was his laying his hand upon 
the currency. He had old-fashioned notions in favor of gold and sil- 
ver, which he considered the true standards of wealth and mediums of 
commerce, and one of his first edicts was, that all duties to government 
should be paid in those precious metals, and that seawant, or wampum, 
should no longer be a legal tender. Here was a blow at public pros- 
perity! All those who speculated on the rise and fall of this fluctuating 
currency, found their calling at an end : those, too, who had hoarded 



Notes. 



107 



Indian money by barrels full, found their capital shrunk in amount; 
but, above all, the Yankee traders, who were accustomed to flood the 
market with newly-coined oyster-shells, and to abstract Dutch mer- 
chandise in exchange, were loud-mouthed in decrying this 'tamperino- 
with the currency. It was clipping the wings of commerce,' etc. . . . 
In fact, trade did shrink. . . . The honest Dutchmen sold less goods ; 
but then they got the worth of them, either in silver and gold, or in 
codfish, tinware, and other articles of Yankee barter. The ingenious 
people of the east, however, indemnified themselves in another way for 
having to abandon the coinage of oyster-shells, for about this time we 
are told that wooden nutmegs made their first appearance in New- 
Amsterdam, to the great annoyance of the Dutch housewives." 
("Knickerbocker's History of New York," V. 2.) 

Note 23, p. 54. In 1609 Hendrick Hudson discovered the river 
which bears his name. "After sailing about one hundred miles up the 
river, he found the watery world around him began to grow more 




Map of Henry Hudson's Voyages. 



shallow and confined, the current more rapid and perfectly fresh — 
phenomena which puzzled the honest Dutchman prodigiously. A con- 
sultation was therefore called, and having deliberated full six hours, 
they were brought to a determination by the ship's running aground — ■ 



io8 



Notes. 



whereupon they concluded that there was but little chance of getting to 
China in this direction." ("Knickerbocker's History of New York," 

Note 24, p. 56. Notice that the story proper is laid in the times of the 
English rule, about 1705, in the days of Lord Cornbury; but that this 
legend of the Storm Ship dates back to 1633, when the Dutch held 
6way under Wouter Van Twiller, — '• the happy reign of Wouter Van 
Twiller, celebrated in many a long-forgotten song as the real goldeii 
age, the rest being nothing but counterfeit, copper-washed coin." Note 
on "Knickerbocker's History of New York," HI. 4. (For a humor- 
ous account of Van Twiller's reign see " Knickerbocker's History of 
New York," Book HI.) 

Note 25, p. 61. We find this chair and pipe more fully described 
in "Knickerbocker" (111. i) : "He sat in a huge chair of solid oak, 




A Scene at The Hague. 



hewn in the celebrated forest of the Hague, curiously carved about 
the arms and feet, into exact imitations of gigantic eagles' claws. 
Instead of a sceptre he swayed a long Turkish pipe, wrought with 
jasmin and amber, which had been presented to a stadt-holder of 
Holland, at the conclusion of a treaty with one of the petty Barbary 
powers." In Turkey the jasmin wood is made into pipestems which 
are highly prized. The flowers of this jasmin are very fragrant, and 
the wood is more or less aromatic. 



Notes. 



109 



Note 26, p. 64. the Flying Dutchman. There is a legend that a 
Dutch captain, homeward bound from the Indies, met with baffling 
winds and heavy weather off the Cape of Good Hope. He would not 
put back, as members of his crew wished him to. Rather, he swore a 
mighty oath that he would beat round the Cape if it took till the Day 
of Judgment. For his ungodliness he was doomed to beat against 
head winds for all time. Neither the master nor the crew can heave to 
or launch a boat, so the legend says. But sometimes they hail passing 
ships, and ask them to take letters home. The ship has become white 
with age, the sails bleached and threadbare, and the captain and crew 
mere shadows. 

Note 27, p. 66. St. Nicholas. The vessel named Gocde Vrouw, or 
Good Woman, which brought the first Dutch settlers to America, had 
for its figurehead an image of St. Nicholas. This figure was "equipped 




San Nic'l'as. 



with a low, broad-brimmed hat, a huge pair of Flemish trunk-hose, and 
a pipe that reached to the end of the bowsprit." After the Dutch had 
settled New Amsterdam they showed their gratitude to St. Nicholas for 
safely guiding them to this delightful spot by erecting a chapel in his 
honor. Whereupon he at once took the town under his particular care, 
and has been its patron saint ever since. It was at this time that he 
became the Santa Claus of the Dutch. " At this early period was insti- 
tuted that pious ceremony, still religiously observed in all our ancient 



no Notes. 

families of the right breed, of hanging up a stocking in the chimney on 
St. Nicholas eve, — which stocking is always found in the morning 
miraculously filled; for the good St. Nicholas has ever been a great 
giver of gifts, particularly to children." (" Knickerbocker," II. 9.) 

" As of yore, in the better days of man, the deities were wont to visit 
him in earth and bless his rural habitation, so we are told, in the sylvan 
days of New Amsterdam, the good St. Nicholas would often make his 
appearance in his beloved city, of a holiday afternoon, riding jollily 
among the tree-tops, or over the roofs of the houses, now and then 
drawing forth magnificent presents from his breeches' pocket, and 
dropping them down the chimneys of his favorites. Whereas in these 
degenerate days of iron and brass he never shows us the light of his 
countenance, nor ever visits us, save one night in the year ; when he 
rattles down the chimneys of the descendants of the patriarchs, confin- 
ing his presents merely to the children, in token of the degeneracy of 
the parents." ("Knickerbocker's History of New York.") 

Note 28, p. 70. This poem, his " Spectre Ship," is one of the few 
written by Moore while visiting America in 1803-04. 

WRITTEN 

ON PASSING DEADMAN'S ISLAND ^ 

IN THE 

GULF OF ST. LAWRENCE, 

Late in the Evening, September, 1804. 

See you, beneath yon cloud so dark, 

Fast gliding along, a gloomy bark ? 

Her sails are full, — though the wind is still, 

And there blows not a breath her sails to fill ! 

Say, what does the vessel of darkness bear ? 
The silent calm of the grave is there. 
Save now and again a death-knell rung. 
And the flap of the sails with night-fog hung ! 

There lieth a wreck on the dismal shore 
Of cold and pitiless Labrador; 
Where, under the moon, upon mounts of frost, 
Full many a mariner's bones are tossed ! 

Yon shadowy bark hath been to that wreck, 
And the dim blue fire, that lights her deck. 
Doth play on as pale and livid a crew 
As ever yet drank the churchyard dew ! 

1 This is one of the Magdalen Islands. The above lines were suggested by a 
superstition very common among sailors, who call this ghost-ship, I think, " The 
Flying Dutchman." (Moore's note.) 



Notes. Ill 

To Deadman's Isle, in the eye of the blast, 
To Deadman's Isle she speeds her fast; 
By skeleton shapes her sails are furled, 
And the hand that steers is not of the world ! 

Oh ! hurry thee on — oh ! hurry thee on, 
Thou terrible bark, ere the night be gone, 
Nor let morning look on so foul a sight 
As would blanch forever her rosy light ! 

Note 29, p. 75. Bout and bight come from the same word, meaning 
a bend. A bight is a bend in a coast, or an open bay. A bout is a 
bend, or turn, or round, used in connection with games or contests. 

Note 30, p. 78. " The houses of the higher class were generally 
constructed of wood, excepting the gable end, which was of small black 
and yellow Dutch bricks, and always faced on the street. . . . The 
house was always furnished with abundance of large doors and small 
windows on every floor, the date of its erection was curiously designated 
by iron figures on the front, and on the top of the roof was perched a 
fierce little weathercock." ("Knickerbocker's History of New York," 
III. 3.) 

Note 31, p. 81. "The best rooms in the house, instead of being 
adorned with caricatures of dame Nature, in water colors and needle- 
work, were always hung round with homespun garments, the manufac- 
ture and the property of the females." ("Knickerbocker's History of 
New York," HI. 4.) 

Note 32, p. 82. The pJiantoDi of tJie haunted house. Now, can you 
see why Irving threw out the hints of this resemblance before — what is 
the connection? 

Note 33, p. 83. Peter Stuyvesant. "This most excellent governor 
commenced his administration on the 29th of May, 1647 ; a remarkably 
stormy day, distinguished in all the almanacs of the time which have 
come down to us by the name of Windy Friday. As he was very 
jealous of his personal and official dignity, he was inaugurated into 
office with great ceremony, — the goodly oaken chair of the renowned 
Wouter Van Twiller being carefully preserved for such occasions." 

Irving's description of tliis doughty old Dutchman contains so many 
elements of eff'ective characterization — all except brevity — that some 
extracts from it are worth quoting, especially as some of our own promi- 
nent statesmen, so called, are sadly in need of the prime quality which 
Knickerbocker humorously but also seriously commends in him. 

" Peter Stuyvesant was the last, and like the renowned Wouter Van 
Twiller, the best of our ancient Dutch governors, Wouter having sur- 



112 Notes. 

passed all who preceded him, and Pieter or Piet, as he was socially 
called by the old Dutch burghers, having never been equalled by any 
successor. . . . 

" To say merely that he was a hero would be doing him great injustice, 
— he was in truth a combination of heroes, — for he was of a sturdy, raw- 
boned make like Ajax Telamon, with a pair of round shoulders that 
Hercules would have given his hide for (meaning his lion's hide) when 
he undertook to ease old Atlas of his load. He was, moreover, as 
Plutarch describes Coriolanus, not only terrible for the force of his arm, 
but likewise of his voice, which sounded as though it came out of a 
barrel ; and, like the self-same warrior, he possessed a sovereign con- 
tempt for the sovereign people, and an iron aspect, which was enough 
of itself to make the very bowels of his adversaries quake with terror 
and dismay. All this martial excellency of appearance was inexpressibly 
heightened by an accidental advantage, with which I am surprised that 
neither Homer nor Virgil have graced any of their heroes. This was 
nothing less than a wooden leg, which was the only prize he had 
gained in bravely fighting the battles of his country, but of which he 
was so proud, that he was often heard to declare he valued it more than 
all his other limbs put together ; indeed, so highly did he esteem it, 
that he had it gallantly encased and relieved with silver devices, which 
caused it to be related in divers histories and legends that he wore a 
silver leg. . . . 

" He was, in fact, the very reverse of his predecessors, being neither 
tranquil and inert like Walter the Doubter, nor restless and fidgeting, 
like William the Testy ; but a man, or later a governor, of such uncom- 
mon activity and decision of mind, that he never sought nor accepted 
the advice of others ; depending bravely upon his single head, as would 
a hero of yore upon his single arm, to carry him through all difficulties 
and dangers. To tell the simple truth, he wanted- nothing more to 
complete him as a statesman than to think always right, for no one can 
say but that he always acted as he thought. ... In a word, he pos- 
sessed in an eminent degree that great quality in a statesman, called 
perseverance by the polite, but nicknamed obstinacy by the vulgar. 
A wonderful salve for official blunders ; since he who perseveres in error 
without flinching, gets the credit of boldness and consistency, while he 
who wavers in seeking to do what is right, gets stigmatized as a 
trimmer. This much is certain ; and it is a maxim well worthy the 
attention of all legislators great and small, who stand shaking in the 
wind, irresolute which way to steer, that a ruler who follows his own 
will pleases himself, while he who seeks to satisfy the wishes and whims 
of others runs great risk of pleasing nobody. There is nothing, too, 



Notes. 



113 



like putting down one's foot resolutely, when in doubt; and letting 
things take their course. The clock that stands still points right twice 
in four and twenty hours ; while others may keep going continually and 
be continually going wrong. 

" Nor did this magnanimous quality escape the discernment of the 
good people of Nieuw-Nederlands ; on the contrary, so much were they 
struck with the independent will and vigorous resolution displayed on 
all occasions by their new governor, that they universally called him 
Hard-Koppig Piet; or Peter the Headstrong, — a great compHment to 
the strength of his understanding. 

" If, from all I have said, thou dost not gather, worthy reader, that 
Peter Stuyvesant was a tough, sturdy, valiant, weather-beaten, mettle- 
some, obstinate, leathern-sided, lion-hearted, generous-spirited old gov- 
ernor, either I have written to but little purpose, or thou art very dull at 
drawing conclusions." (" Knickerbocker's History of New York," V. i.) 

Note 34, p. 86. fairy heights. The following quotations from 
the "Sketch Book" will suggest Irving's idea : "'Whoever has made 
a voyage up the Hudson must remember the Kaatskill Mountains. . . . 
When the weather is fair and settled they are clothed in blue and purple, 
and print their bold outlines on the clear evening sky ; but some- 
times . . . they will gather a hood of vapors about their summits, 
which in the last rays of the setting sun, will glow and light up like a 
crown of glory. At the foot of these /a/ry i/wuntains, etc." 

"The Catskill Mountains have always been a region full of fable. 
The Indians considered them the abode of spirits, who influenced the 
weather, spreading sunshine or clouds over the landscape, and sending 
good or bad hunting seasons. They were ruled by an old squaw spirit, 
said to be their mother. She dwelt on the highest peak of the Cats- 
kills, and had charge of the doors of day and night, to open and shut 
them at the proper time. She hung up the new moons in the skies, 
and cut up the old ones into stars." 



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A collection of traditional rhymes and stories Tir children, and of mas- 
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I 



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